Monsters End Skid with Thrilling 4-3 Shootout Win over Amerks
Jan 17, 2020The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters defeated the Rochester Americans in a shootout on Friday at Blue Cross Arena by a final score of 4-3. With the win, the Monsters improved to 18-19-1-2 and with 39 points, currently occupy seventh place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
Rochester’s John Gilmour posted a power-play goal at 14:45 of the opening period to give the Amerks a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes of play, but Cleveland’s Ryan MacInnis leveled the score at 2:55 of the middle frame thanks to extra-man feeds from Andrew Peeke and Trey Fix-Wolansky. Casey Mittelstadt staked the Amerks to a 2-1 edge at 9:42 of the second, but Fix-Wolansky tied the game at two at 10:55 thanks to a slick setup from MacInnis and Gabriel Carlsson. Then, Monsters winger Kole Sherwood’s five-on-five finish at 15:11 of the second gave Cleveland their first lead at 3-2 with Doyle Somerby registering an assist on the play before Rochester’s C.J. Smith forced overtime with a power-play tally at 15:32 of the third. After a scoreless overtime period, Cleveland’s Markus Hannikainen potted a shootout winner in the second round of a three-round shootout and Monsters net-minder Veini Vehvilainen stopped all three Amerks shooters to secure the win.
Vehvilainen stopped 29 pucks during regulation and overtime while Rochester’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 23 saves in defeat.
Next up for the Monsters, it’s a Saturday road clash vs. the Utica Comets with full coverage, live from Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, NY at 7:00 pm on Alt 99.1, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.
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Scoring:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | SO | Final | |
| CLE | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| ROC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Shots/Special Teams:
| Shots | PP | PK | PIM | |
| CLE | 27 | 1/8 | 4/6 | 12 min / 6 inf |
| ROC | 32 | 2/6 | 7/8 | 16 min / 8 inf |
Goaltenders:
| Goaltender | Outcome | Saves | GA | Record | |
| CLE | Vehvilainen | W | 29 | 3 | 9-10-1 |
| ROC | Luukkonen | OT | 23 | 4 | 0-0-1 |
Cleveland Record: 18-19-1-2, 7th North Division
Rochester Record: 21-11-2-4, 3rd North Division
GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*
*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.