Monsters Comeback Stalled in 4-2 Loss to Griffins
Feb 14, 2020The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters fell to the Grand Rapids Griffins 4-2 on Friday night at Van Andel Arena. With the loss, the Monsters are now 23-24-2-2 and are currently in eighth place in the AHL’s North Division standings with 50 points.
Following a scoreless first period, Calvin Thurkauf notched a tally for the Monsters at 2:54 of the middle frame with helpers from Maxime Fortier and Adam Clendening. Grand Rapids scored two goals to wrap up the second period with Jarid Lukosevicius’ tally at 14:31 and Evgeny Svechnikov’s marker at 15:03 sending Cleveland to the final intermission trailing 2-1. Kole Sherwood scored a goal at 4:35 of the third period with assists from Derek Barach and Markus Hannikainen to tie the game for the Monsters at 2-2. Despite a strong effort from the Monsters, Turner Elson helped regain the lead for the Griffins with a marker at 18:37 followed by Joe Veleno securing the win for Grand Rapids with an empty-net goal at 19:50.
Cleveland’s Veini Vehvilainen made 29 saves in defeat while Grand Rapids’ Pat Nagle stopped 19 shots in victory.
The Monsters faceoff against the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday night with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop at BMO Harris Bank Center. Follow the games with full coverage on ALT 99.1, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.
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Scoring:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | SO | Final | |
| CLE | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 2 |
| GR | 0 | 2 | 2 | - | - | 4 |
Shots/Special Teams:
| Shots | PP | PK | PIM | |
| CLE | 21 | 0/3 | 4/4 | 8 min / 4 inf |
| GR | 33 | 0/4 | 3/3 | 6 min / 3 inf |
Goaltenders:
| Goaltender | Outcome | Saves | GA | Record | |
| CLE | Vehvilainen | L | 29 | 3 | 10-14-2 |
| GR | Nagle | W | 19 | 2 | 5-5-1 |
Cleveland Record: 23-24-2-2, 8th North Division
Grand Rapids Record: 23-22-3-4, 4th Central Division
GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*
*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.