CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There was no need for brooms at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse Tuesday night, as the Cleveland Monsters lost 2-1 to the Syracuse Crunch in Game 3 of the first round of the AHL Calder Cup playoffs.

The Monsters were looking for a sweep of the best-of-5 series after winning the first two games of the series over the weekend in New York, but the Crunch held off a furious late Monsters rally to keep the series going.

The Monsters’ downfall was that the offense just never got going in the first two periods. After they scored five goals in each of the first two games of the series and averaged 30 shots on goal, Cleveland mustered just eight shots total in the first two periods Tuesday, only three in the second period.

“I think we passed up so many shots in the second particularly,” Monsters coach John Madden said. “We didn’t put any panic in their game and we had a hard time recovering loose pucks in their zone."

The power play was not effective for the Monsters, either, as they were unsuccessful on all five opportunities with a man advantage.

Syracuse’s Alex Barre-Boulet scored the game’s first goal with 7:50 remaining in the first period when he wrapped around the net and forced the puck past Monsters goaltender Brad Thiessen. The game was still 1-0 heading into the third period, but the Crunch began the final frame on a power play.

“We didn’t have any big rah-rah speech, just stated the facts,” Madden said of preparations for the final period. “It’s a 1-0 game and we haven’t played our best hockey. Let’s get through the kill and go from there.”

Things didn’t work out that way. Andy Andreoff put a rebound past Thiessen, who made 25 saves in the game, for a power play goal just 31 seconds into the period.

Justin Scott got the Monsters on the board with 7:11 left in regulation when he took a pass from Zac Dalpe and got the puck past Crunch goaltender Eddie Pasquale for a shorthanded goal. The tally for Scott woke up the home crowd and propelled the Monsters to a strong finish tha ultimately saw them come up short despite an 18-7 edge in shots in the period.

“We were one shot away going into the third period from tying the game,” Madden said. “I thought the boys played well in the third and found their legs and found their game.”

The Monsters still hold a 2-1 series lead and will again go for the series win when the two teams meet in Game 4 on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Ryan Isley is a freelancer from Akron.