Monsters Fall to .500, Beat Up By Moose 7-1 in Winnipeg

Provided by the Cleveland Monsters

The Cleveland Monsters, proud American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, were defeated by the Manitoba Moose on Thursday at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, MB, by a final score of 7-1. With the loss, the Monsters fell to 7-7-2-2 overall this season and with a .500 points percentage, Cleveland remains alone in fifth place in the AHL’s Central Division standings.

The Moose grabbed a 1-0 lead on Thursday when Michael Spacek logged a power-play goal at 19:50 of the opening period. In the second, Manitoba ran their edge to 3-0 with back-to-back even-strength markers from Chase De Leo at 12:25 and Mason Appleton at 14:00 before Cleveland’s Sam Vigneault posted a five-on-five tally, assisted by Miles Koules and Calvin Thurkauf at 14:46, to make it 3-1.

The Moose continued their onslaught at 15:46, however, as Buddy Richardson’s even-strength goal made it 4-1 Moose and Julian Melchiori potted a five-on-five wrister at 16:27 to push the Moose edge to 4-1.

In the third, Manitoba’s Peter Stoykewych buried an unassisted even-strength marker at 1:07 to make it 6-1 Moose and Jack Roslovic scored at five-on-five at 12:23 to cap a 7-1 victory for Manitoba, extending the team’s league-wide season-long winning streak to eight games.

Cleveland’s Brad Thiessen fell to 4-2-3 in net this season after allowing five goals on 16 shots faced through 36-plus minutes on Thursday before being pulled in favor of Matiss Kivlenieks, who stopped seven of the nine shots he faced the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Moose net-minder Michael Hutchinson improved to 8-1-1 between the pipes this year by virtue of a 34-save performance.

Next up for the Monsters, it’s a Saturday rematch vs. the Moose, with full coverage, live from Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, MB, underway at 8:00 pm.