Monsters fall short in 5-4 loss to Comets
Jan 12, 2024The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Utica Comets 5-4 on Friday night at Adirondack Bank Center. With the loss, the Monsters are now 23-10-1-0 and are currently in first place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
Utica took control of the opening frame with goals from Jace Isley at 3:00, Brian Halonen on the power play at 6:40 and Chase Stillman at 10:37 bringing the score to 3-0 Comets after the first. Cleveland dominated the second period with goals from Jake Gaudet at 6:54 off a feed from Marcus Bjork, followed by Owen Sillinger’s one-timer assisted by Samuel Knazko pushing the score to 3-2 Utica after 40 minutes. James Malatesta scored the first goal in the final frame at 12:42 with helpers from Cameron Butler and Gaudet but was quickly answered by Utica’s Graeme Clarke at 13:26. Hunter McKown notched a late power-play goal at 17:50 off feeds from Bjork and Mikael Pyyhtia but Utica’s Justin Dowling responded at 19:32 resulting in the final score of 5-4 Utica.
Cleveland’s Jet Greaves made 22 saves in defeat while Utica’s Akira Schmid stopped 32 shots for the win.
The Monsters head to Syracuse to face the Crunch on Saturday, January 13, at 7:00 p.m. at the Upstate Medical University Arena. 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 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
- |
4 |
|
UTC |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
- |
5 |
Shots/Special Teams:
|
|
Shots |
PP |
PK |
PIM |
|
CLE |
36 |
1/2 |
1/2 |
19 min / 3 inf |
|
UTC |
27 |
1/2 |
1/2 |
4 min / 2 inf |
Goaltenders:
|
|
Goaltender |
Outcome |
Saves |
GA |
Record |
|
CLE |
Greaves |
L |
22 |
5 |
17-5-0 |
|
UTC |
Schmid |
W |
32 |
4 |
1-1-3 |
Cleveland Record: 23-10-1-0, 1st North Division
Utica Record: 12-13-3-3, 7th North Division
GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*-
*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.