Monsters Fall at Home to the Utica Comets in Saturday Afternoon Affair 6-2

Provided by the Monsters

The Monsters were defeated by the Utica Comets on Saturday afternoon at The Q by a final score of 6-2.

With the loss, the Monsters fell to 17-12-4-1 overall this season and with 39 points, currently sit alone in fourth place in the AHL’s North Division standings.

After a scoreless opening frame, Utica opened up a 5-0 lead in the second period with even-strength goals from Zack MacEwen at 6:32, Jesse Graham at 9:46, Vincent Arseneau at 11:03 and Adam Gaudette at 14:36, followed by a power-play finish from Gaudette at 17:42 of the middle stanza.

In the third, Arseneau potted his second of the game at 9:13 of the period at even-strength to make it 6-0 Comets before the Monsters capped a 6-2 final score with five-on-five markers from Sonny Milano at 13:31, assisted by Kole Sherwood and Michael Prapavessis, and Nathan Gerbe at 14:54, thanks to helpers from Mark Letestu and Gabriel Carlsson.

Monsters goaltender Jean-Francois Berube stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced in the first two periods on Saturday to fall to 11-9-3 this season before Cleveland’s Brad Thiessen added 11 saves in relief in the final frame, while Utica’s Ivan Kulbakov improved to 6-6-2 following a 28-save performance.

Next up for the Monsters, it’s a Sunday rematch vs. the Comets with full coverage, live from The Q, underway at 3:00.