CRUNCH OPEN DIVISION FINALS IN CLEVELAND
 
The Crunch and Cleveland Monsters contest Game 1 of the North Division Finals tonight at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
 
The teams meet in the playoffs for the second time ever, and the first time in the division finals round. The best-of-five series will follow a 2-2-1 format, with the middle two in Syracuse next week.
 
CRUNCH CLAMP DOWN TO THWART AMERKS
 
The Crunch scored a pair of first period goals and led the whole way in a 5-2 win over the Rochester Americans in Game 5 of the North Division Semifinals last Friday. The Crunch won the series, 3-2, for their first series victory since 2018. 
 
Declan Carlile opened the scoring for the Crunch at 2:28 of the first period. Off a faceoff, he blasted a shot from the point that grazed a Rochester leg and made its way past Devon Levi for a 1-0 lead. Seven minutes later, Cole Koepke turned a fired a shot from the right circle that found the back of the net through a net-front battle to make it 2-0.
 
The Amerks pulled within one off a faceoff play that resulted in a cutting Jeremy Davies tipping a pass in from the low slot. Syracuse stretched the lead in the second period when Waltteri Merelä cashed in off a feed from Felix Robert on a 2-on-1 rush. That was answered two minutes later via a Michael Mersch power-play goal.
 
Syracuse closed the door in the third period to earn the win. The Crunch held a one-goal lead for most of the period until Koepke capitalized on an odd-man rush for his second goal of the game with 5:10 left to play. Robert iced it with an empty-net goal to make it a 5-2 final. 
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH
 
The Crunch advanced to the North Division Finals for the first time since 2018 after eliminating the Rochester Americans in five games. Their win in Rochester last week marked their third win in a winner-take-all game in franchise history, and the first on the road since 1996 (at Baltimore).
 
Four of the five games in the previous series were decided by one goal; the Crunch went 2-2 in those games against Rochester after posting a 16-4-4-5 record during the regular season in one-goal games. 
 
Syracuse has been the most disciplined team in the Calder Cup Playoffs, averaging 5.20 penalty minutes per game. They were shorthanded only 10 times in five games against Rochester. 
 
MOVING ON
 
The Crunch earned their first playoff series victory in six years with their Game 5 win against Rochester. Their previous series win came against the Amerks in the 2018 North Division Semifinals. The Crunch had lost four straight series starting with the 2018 North Division Finals versus Toronto.
 
The Crunch have won 12 playoff series in team history. The last time they won more than one in a season was in 2017, when they advanced to the Calder Cup Finals.
 
COMING FROM BEHIND  
 
Both the Crunch and Monsters opened their division semifinals with Game 1 losses to Rochester and Belleville respectively. The Crunch lost Game 1 on the road, but they won three of the final four games to win their first series when losing Game 1 since the 2017 North Division Semifinals versus St. John's; they are 5-9 in series when losing the first game.
 
The Monsters are 6-2 all-time in Game 1s; they are 5-1 in series when winning the first game and 1-1 when losing the opening game of a series. The won three straight after dropping Game 1 to the Senators.
 
FILLING THE NET  
 
Cole Koepke and Waltteri Merelä led the Crunch with three goals in their division semifinals win over Rochester. Koepke's three goals came over the final two games, and he became the first Crunch player since Cory Conacher in Game 5 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals versus Providence to score two goals in a series-clinching game.
 
Merelä rides a three-game goal streak into the division finals, making him the first Crunch player since Mathieu Joseph (2018) to score a goal in three straight playoff games. He matched his regular season total with a pair of game-winning goals in the division semifinals.
 
SCOUTING THE MONSTERS
 
The Monsters are in the playoffs for only the fourth time in franchise history, but they've made the most of their opportunities. The have won a playoff series in three of their four playoff berths, including a Calder Cup championship in 2016. 
 
This season, they won their first regular season division title by leapfrogging the Crunch on the final day of the season. They finished with a 40-24-5-3 record and had 88 points, one more than the Crunch. 
 
Trey Fix-Wolansky was the Monsters leading scorer during the season with 60 points (26g, 34a) in 58 games. The Monsters all-time leading scorer, Fix-Wolansky has 199 career points in 224 regular season AHL games since joining the league in 2019-20. He had two assists in their series against Belleville.
 
All-Star Jet Greaves backstopped the Monsters to a 30-12-4 record in his 46 appearances during the season; he tied for second in the AHL in wins. Greaves leads goaltenders with a .942 save percentage so far in the playoffs.  
 
HEAD-TO-HEAD  
 
The Crunch face off against the Cleveland Monsters in the North Division Finals. It's the second playoff series between the clubs; the Monsters defeated the Crunch in four games during the 2019 North Division Semifinals. That was Cleveland's most recent playoff series win until they bested the Belleville Senators in this year's division semifinals. Two current Crunch players - Alex Barré-Boulet and Gabriel Dumont - skated in that series, while no current Monsters participated.
 
During the regular season, the teams split their four-game series. The teams went 1-1 in a pair of regulation games in Cleveland during the Monsters home opening weekend. The two games in Syracuse required overtime and the Crunch won the most recent decision in a shootout (Jan. 13). 
 
Among active Crunch players, Tristan Allard and Gage Goncalves led the team with three points. Trey Fix-Wolansky led the Monsters with four points (2g, 2a), including an overtime winner in December. 
 
Neither of the Crunch's current top two goalies appeared in a game against the Monsters, but Jet Greaves started all four in net for Cleveland.