Monsters Tripped Up in 5-2 Loss to Rocket
Mar 5, 2020The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters fell to the Laval Rocket 5-2 on Thursday evening at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. With the loss, the Monsters are now 24-29-4-2 and are currently in eighth place in the AHL’s North Division standings with 54 points.
Following a scoreless first period, Laval took the lead in the middle frame recording three goals from Michael Pazzetta at 2:37, Alexandre Alain at 3:15 and Yannick Veilleux at 7:53. The Monsters responded at 19:40 after Branden Troock notched a tally off feeds from Justin Scott and Lindsay Sparks sending Cleveland into the final intermission trailing 3-1. The Rocket’s Veilleaux converted on the man-advantage at 10:31, but Sam Vigneault notched a power-play goal of his own with helpers from Marko Dano and Adam Clendening to cut the Monsters defecit in half. Despite a strong fight from Cleveland, Laval’s Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored an empty-net tally bringing the final score to 5-2.
Cleveland’s Veini Vehvilainen made 16 saves in defeat while Laval’s Cayden Primeau stopped 29 shots in victory.
The Monsters host a rematch against the Laval Rocket on Friday evening with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Follow the games with full coverage on ALT 99.1, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.
Stay up to date on all Monsters news with the Monsters Mobile App presented by University Hospitals available to download at the Apple Store or Google Play Store. Be sure to follow the Monsters on Twitter @monstershockey, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/monstershockey, and on Instagram @monstershockey.
Scoring:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | SO | Final | |
| CLE | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| LAV | 0 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 5 |
Shots/Special Teams:
| Shots | PP | PK | PIM | |
| CLE | 31 | 1/5 | 2/3 | 6 min / 3 inf |
| LAV | 21 | 1/3 | 4/5 | 10 min / 5 inf |
Goaltenders:
| Goaltender | Outcome | Saves | GA | Record | |
| CLE | Vehvilainen |
L |
16 | 4 | 10-17-4 |
| LAV | Primeau | W | 29 | 2 | 16-11-3 |
Cleveland Record: 24-29-4-2, 8th North Division
Laval Record: 28-24-5-3, 6th North Division
GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*
*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.