Monsters Drop 4-2 Decision to Griffins

The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters comeback fell short in a 4-2 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Tuesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. With the loss, the Monsters are now 8-6-0-1 and are currently in fifth place in the AHL’s North Division standings with 17 points.

Grand Rapids’ Turner Elson opened the scoring in the first period, but Nathan Gerbe notched a tally for Cleveland to tie the game up. At the end of the middle frame, Filip Zadina scored a goal to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. Zac Dalpe brought it back to an even game, but the Griffins scored two goals in the final minute from Joe Veleno and Matt Puempel to take the game 4-2. Grand Rapids backstop Calvin Pickard had 40 saves in the win while Cleveland’s Veini Vehvilainen stopped 19 shot in the loss.

Scoring:

1st 2nd 3rd OT SO Final CLE 1 0 1 - - 2 GR 1 1 2 - - 4

SHOTS/SPECIAL TEAMS:

Shots PP PK PIM CLE 42 0/5 2/2 4 min / 2 inf GR 23 0/2 5/5 10 min / 5 inf

Goaltenders:

Goaltender Outcome Saves GA Record CLE Vehvilainen L 19 3 3-4-0 GR Pickard W 40 2 5-3-2

Cleveland Record: 8-6-0-1, 5th North Division

Grand Rapids Record: 7-6-1-1, 4th Central Division

GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*

Next Game:

The Monsters head to face the Rochester Americans on Friday with a 7:05 p.m. puck drop at Blue Cross Arena. Follow the games with full coverage on ALT 99.1, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.

Social Media:

Be sure to follow the Monsters on Twitter @monstershockey, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/monstershockey, and on Instagram @monstershockey.

*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.