Monsters deliver 4-2 win to start season series with Comets
Dec 2, 2023The Cleveland Monsters beat the Utica Comets 4-2 on Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in front of 10,180 fans. With the win, the Monsters are now 13-4-1-0 and are currently in first place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
Brendan Gaunce broke open the scoring at 3:19 of the first period off feeds from Trey Fix-Wolansky and Cole Clayton giving the Monsters an early lead. James Malatesta doubled the score at 17:06 assisted by Carson Meyer and Owen Sillinger sending Cleveland to the first intermission ahead 2-0. Utica’s Max Willman responded at 7:15 of the middle frame for the visitors, but Malatesta recorded his second tally of the night at 14:48 with helpers from Corson Ceulemans and Owen Sillinger bringing the score to 3-1 for the Monsters after 40 minutes. The Comets battled back with a marker from Joe Gambardella at 5:18, but Meyer pushed the game out of reach with an empty-net goal at 19:53 assisted by Jake Christiansen bringing the final score to 4-2.
Cleveland’s Daniil Tarasov had 22 stops for the win while Utica’s Isaac Poulter made 24 saves in defeat.
The Monsters host the Utica Comets for a rematch on Sunday, December 3, at 12:30 p.m. at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. 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 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
4 |
|
UTC |
0 |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
2 |
Shots/Special Teams:
|
|
Shots |
PP |
PK |
PIM |
|
CLE |
28 |
0/5 |
4/4 |
10 min / 5 inf |
|
UTC |
24 |
0/4 |
5/5 |
12 min / 6 inf |
Goaltenders:
|
|
Goaltender |
Outcome |
Saves |
GA |
Record |
|
CLE |
Tarasov |
W |
22 |
2 |
1-0-0 |
|
UTC |
Poulter |
L |
24 |
3 |
5-3-1 |
Cleveland Record: 13-4-1-0, 1st North Division
Utica Record: 6-8-3-0, 6th North Division
GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*
*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.