Monsters Fall to Rocket in Seven-Round Shootout, 3-2

The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters picked up a point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Laval Rocket on Tuesday night at Place Bell. With the loss, the Monsters are now 12-11-1-2 and are currently in seventh place in the AHL’s North Division standings with 27 points.

Cleveland began the game with a power-play goal from Nathan Gerbe at 5:18 of the opening frame with assists by Adam Clendening and Kevin Stenlund. The Monsters doubled the lead heading into the first intermission after a marker from Stenlund at 14:36 with helpers from Gerbe and Markus Hannikainen.

The Rocket scored 9:48 into the middle frame after Dale Weise’s tally, but the Monsters kept control of the 2-1 lead heading into the final intermission.

Laval tied the game 2-2 after Charles Hudon converted on a man-advantage opportunity at 16:12 of the third period forcing the game into extra time. Following a scoreless overtime period, Stefan Matteau and Marko Dano scored in the third and fourth rounds of the shootout, but Laval’s Hudon and Michael Pezzetta responded in the same rounds with Weise recording the game-winning tally in the seventh round.

Veini Vehvilainen made 28 saves in the loss while Laval’s Charlie Lindgren stopped 21 pucks for the win.

The Monsters return home to face off against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday night with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Follow the games with full coverage on ALT 99.1, 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 @monstershockey, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/monstershockey, and on Instagram @monstershockey.

Scoring:

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

Shots/Special Teams:

Shots PP PK PIM CLE 23 1/4 8/9 18 min / 9 inf LAV 31 1/9 3/4 8 min / 4 inf

Goaltenders:

Goaltender Outcome Saves GA Record CLE Vehvilainen OT 28 3 5-6-1 LAV Lindgren W 21 2 7-5-2

Cleveland Record: 12-11-1-2, 7th North Division

Laval Record: 15-10-3-0, 3rd North Division

GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*

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