Monsters grab 500th franchise win in 6-5 shootout victory over Bears
Dec 11, 2022The Cleveland Monsters beat the Hershey Bears 6-5 in a shootout on Sunday evening at Giant Center. With the win, the Monsters are now 11-8-1-2 and are currently in third place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
The Bears took an early lead with four goals in the opening frame from Kale Kessy at 2:25, Mike Vecchione at 3:22, Ethen Frank at 14:47 and Connor McMichael at 15:14. Josh Dunne responded with a marker before the end of the period at 16:57 assisted by Roman Ahcan and Tyler Angle cutting the score to 4-1 after 20 minutes. Hershey’s McMichael converted on the power play at 4:37 of the second period, but Cleveland fought back with four unanswered goals beginning with David Jiricek at 6:23 off feeds from Trey Fix-Wolanksy and Emil Bemstrom. Brett Gallant notched a tally at 10:37 with helpers from Samuel Knazko and Billy Sweezey followed by a power-play marker from Brendan Gaunce at 12:55 assisted by Jiricek and Fix-Wolansky. Dunne converted on the man advantage at 17:48 off feeds from Owen Sillinger and Knazko sending the Monsters to the final intermission tied 5-5. Following a scoreless third period and overtime frame, Dunne secured the game-winning shootout goal completing Cleveland’s 6-5 dramatic comeback win.
Cleveland’s Pavel Cajan made 28 saves for the win while Hershey’s Zach Fucale stopped 29 shots in defeat.
The Monsters return home to host the Laval Rocket on December 17, with a 12:00 p.m. puck drop at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Follow the games with full coverage on FOX Sports 1350 ‘The Gambler’, 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, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Scoring:
|
|
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
OT |
SO |
Final |
|
CLE |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
|
HER |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Shots/Special Teams:
|
|
Shots |
PP |
PK |
PIM |
|
CLE |
35 |
2/4 |
3/4 |
17 min / 7 inf |
|
HER |
33 |
1/4 |
2/4 |
15 min / 6 inf |
Goaltenders:
|
|
Goaltender |
Outcome |
Saves |
GA |
SOG-S |
Record |
|
CLE |
Cajan |
W |
28 |
5 |
1-5 |
4-3-1 |
|
HER |
Fucale |
OT |
29 |
5 |
2-5 |
10-5-1 |
Cleveland Record: 11-8-1-2, 3rd North Division
Hershey Record: 17-5-2-1, 1st Atlantic Division
GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*
*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.