Monsters Win The Shootout, Defeat Grand Rapids 3-2

The Cleveland Monsters were on the road Wednesday night, as they played Grand Rapids for the third consecutive time. The Monsters had lost the first two games of this three-year stretch against the Griffins, so it would be a big game on Wednesday to win in order to keep up with the rest of the division.

After a scoreless first period that only had one penalty, both teams made their presence felt in the second frame.

Oleg Yevenko would get called for tripping and the Griffins would take advantage. Mitch Callahan opened the scoring at the 3:14 mark of the period, scoring off of the power play to give Grand Rapids the 1-0 lead. Nick Moutrey retaliated with a goal of his own for Cleveland, scoring at the 3:54 mark of the period. Sonny Milano would strike with a goal at the 12:08 mark of the period to give Cleveland the lead for the first time in the game. It was the first time Cleveland had led against the Griffins since the start of the third period last Thursday. Cleveland would take a 2-1 lead into the third period, looking to close out the Griffins.

The Griffins would not go away quietly, as Mitch Callahan scored the game-tying goal at the 9:23 mark of the period off of a power play. The power play opportunity came off of a Ryan Craig penalty for cross-checking. That would be the only goal of the period, so both teams would prepare themselves for overtime.

The overtime period could not break the tie, so the teams headed to a shootout. Sonny Milano and Aaron Palushaj scored for the Monsters, as Anton Forsberg stopped both Griffins shot attempts to win the shootout. The Monsters would win the game by a final score of 3-2.

The Monsters improve to 7-10-1-1 on the season and are back in town on Friday, as they take on the Milwaukee Admirals.