Monsters come up short in 5-1 loss to Griffins
Dec 31, 2023The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Grand Rapids Griffins 5-1 on Sunday night at Van Andel Arena. With the loss, the Monsters are now 21-8-1-0 and are currently in first place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
The Griffins struck first after a goal from Joel L’Esperance at 6:01 of the opening frame leaving the Monsters trailing 1-0 after 20 minutes of play. Grand Rapids added three markers in the second period from Carter Mazur at 1:47 and Albert Johansson at 9:50 and 13:57 sending Cleveland to the final intermission behind 4-0. Zach Aston-Reese took advantage of an opportunity for the Griffins at 8:19 of the third frame, but Mikael Pyyhtia got the Monsters on the board after a power-play goal at 12:45 with helpers from Trey Fix-Wolansky and Marcus Bjork bringing the final score to 5-1.
Cleveland’s Pavel Cajan made 33 saves in defeat while Grand Rapids’ Michael Hutchinson stopped 26 shots for the win.
The Monsters travel to face the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday, January 3, at 4:00 p.m. at Coca Cola Coliseum. 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 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
- |
- |
1 |
|
GR |
1 |
3 |
1 |
- |
- |
5 |
Shots/Special Teams:
|
|
Shots |
PP |
PK |
PIM |
|
CLE |
27 |
1/2 |
3/3 |
8 min / 4 inf |
|
GR |
38 |
0/3 |
1/2 |
6 min / 3 inf |
Goaltenders:
|
|
Goaltender |
Outcome |
Saves |
GA |
Record |
|
CLE |
Cajan |
L |
33 |
5 |
4-4-1 |
|
GR |
Hutchinson |
W |
26 |
1 |
7-7-1 |
Cleveland Record: 21-8-1-0, 1st North Division
Grand Rapids Record: 12-13-3-1, 4th Central Division
GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*-
*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.