The Cleveland Monsters finally broke through in the Eastern Conference Finals, extending the series with a 3-2 win over the Hershey Bears in Game 4 on Thursday night.
The Bears still lead, three games to one, and will have another chance to earn a trip to the Calder Cup Finals in Game 5 on Saturday in Cleveland.
Jake Gaudet’s goal with 5:10 gone in the third period held up as the game-winner, giving the Monsters their first victory in eight tries against Hershey this season. The win also snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Bears at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse dating back to 2019.
Josh Dunne and Roman Ahcan also scored for Cleveland, and Jet Greaves turned aside 33 shots on the evening – including 16 in the third period alone.
Ethen Frank scored – his seventh straight game with a goal – and Garrett Roe added his fifth goal of the playoffs after totaling seven goals in 48 games during the regular season. Mike Vecchione notched a pair of assists for the Bears.
Hunter Shepard made 28 saves in the loss.
Attendance in Cleveland was 12,814, the Monsters’ fifth crowd of more than 10,000 fans out of six home dates this postseason.
(Hershey leads series, 3-1)
Game 1 – Thu., May 30 – HERSHEY 5, Cleveland 4 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., June 1 – HERSHEY 3, Cleveland 2 (OT)
Game 3 – Tue., June 4 – Hershey 6, CLEVELAND 2
Game 4 – Thu., June 6 – CLEVELAND 3, Hershey 2
Game 5 – Sat., June 8 – Hershey at Cleveland, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., June 10 – Cleveland at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 12 – Cleveland at Hershey, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern