After nearly 48 minutes of overtime hockey, it took a two-on-one break for them to finally be beaten Brandon Halverson.
Zach Aston-Reese complete the feed from Brendan Gaunce with 7:53 left in the third OT period to give the Cleveland Monsters a 2-1 victory over the Syracuse Crunch and a 3-1 series victory in their North Division semifinal series on Sunday.
Cleveland will face either Laval or Toronto in the next round.
Halverson (1-2) finished the game with 56 saves – 33 of them in sudden-death overtime when the Crunch tried to prevent a shutout. But the Monsters capitalized on a neutral-zone advantage when Syracuse attempted to complete a turnover, ending the longest game in the history of both franchises.
Zach Sawchenko (3-0) was dominant in the opposing cage, stopping 46 shots in the game and shutting out the Crunch in the final 101:18 behind. Matteo Pietroniro giving Syracuse a 1-0 lead.
Rookie defender Luca Marrelli he had a goal and the help of the Monsters.
(Cleveland wins series, 3-1)
Game 1 – Friday, April 24 – CLEVELAND 3, Syracuse 2
Game 2 – Sun., April 26 – Syracuse 4, CLEVELAND 1
Game 3 – Friday, May 1 – Cleveland 4, SYRACUSE 3 (OT)
Game 4 – Sun., May 3 – Cleveland 2, SYRACUSE 1 (3OT)
