Monsters top Marlies 3-1 to even North Division Finals

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Roman Ahcan and Mikael Pyyhtiä scored in the first period, Luca Pinelli added an insurance goal in the third and the Cleveland Monsters beat the Toronto Marlies 3-1 at Rocket Arena to even the North Division Finals.

Ahcan opened the scoring at 5:54 of the first, and Pyyhtiä made it 2-0 at 18:53 as Cleveland took a two-goal lead into intermission in front of 14,196 fans.

Toronto got within one on Benoit-Olivier Groulx’s short-handed goal at 15:32 of the second period, but Pinelli restored a two-goal cushion at 12:54 of the third.

Zach Sawchenko made 17 saves for Cleveland. Artur Akhtyamov stopped 21 shots for Toronto. The best-of series is tied 1-1.

Game 3 is Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto.