Monsters stunted after early start in 6-2 loss to Griffins

Photo via Cleveland Monsters

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Grand Rapids Griffins 6-2 on Saturday night at Van Andel Arena. With the loss, the Monsters are now 22-23-4-2 and are currently in sixth place in the AHL’s North Division standings.

Josh Dunne converted on the power-play to start the scoring at 6:14 assisted by Jake Christiansen and David Jiricek, but Grand Rapids’ Albert Johansson responded at 14:13. Trey Fix-Wolansky notched a tally on the man advantage at 18:16 with helpers from Jiricek and Justin Richards pushing the Monsters ahead 2-1 after 20 minutes. The Griffins added three goals in the middle frame from Dominik Shine at 3:11 and 14:53 followed by Elder Soderblom at 15:48 sending the Monsters to the final intermission trailing 4-2. Grand Rapids pushed the game out of reach in the third period with Joel L’Esperance’s power-play goal at 4:33 and Simon Edvinsson’s empty-net tally at 17:05 bringing the final score to 6-2.

Cleveland’s Jet Greaves made 11 stops in relief of Pavel Cajan who made 14 saves in defeat while Grand Rapids’ Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 32 shots for the win.

The Monsters travel to face the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday, March 1, with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop at Upstate Medical University Arena. Follow the games with full coverage on FOX Sports 1350 ‘The Gambler’, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.

 

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Scoring:

		1st		2nd		3rd		OT		SO		Final
CLE		2		0		0		–		–		2
GR		1		3		2		–		–		6

 

Shots/Special Teams:

		Shots		PP		PK		PIM
CLE		34		2/6		3/4		8 min / 4 inf
GR		31		1/4		4/6		12 min / 6 inf

 

Goaltenders:

		Goaltender		Outcome		Saves		GA		Record
CLE		Cajan		L		14		4		7-8-2
CLE		Greaves		ND		11		1		11-11-4
GR		Nedeljkovic		W		32		2		9-6-2

Cleveland Record: 22-23-4-2, 6th North Division

Grand Rapids Record: 22-24-3-2, 7th Central Division

 

Cleveland Monsters Official Press Release