Captain Brendan Gaunce scored twice during a four-goal second period, propelling the Cleveland Monsters to a 5-1 win and sending the Eastern Conference Finals back to Hershey for a sixth game on Monday.
The Bears still lead the series, three games to two, but the Monsters have won two straight while facing elimination.
Josh Dunne also scored a pair of goals for Cleveland in Game 5, Alex Whelan extended his point-scoring streak to seven games with a goal, and Justin Pearson and Marcus Björk picked up two helpers each as the Monsters handed Hershey its first set of back-to-back regulation losses all season.
Jet Greaves stopped 33 of 34 shots on the night for Cleveland, and has allowed three goals in the last two games after the Bears had scored 14 times in the first three contests of the series.
Hunter Shepard allowed four goals on 20 shots before being relieved by Clay Stevenson, making his Calder Cup Playoff debut, at the start of the third period.
Attendance in Cleveland was 13,159, the Monsters’ sixth crowd of more than 10,000 fans out of seven home dates this postseason.
(Hershey leads series, 3-2)
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 – CLEVELAND 5, Hershey 1
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