The Monsters started their seven-game road trip out a little rough dropping both games to the Rockford IceHogs, 2-0 and 4-1.
On Sunday afternoon, the Monsters were able to shut out their current foe, Iowa Wild, in regulation giving them two much-needed points.
Transactions
Oliver Bjorkstrand was recalled by the Columbus Blue Jackets at the start of the Monsters road trip. In the past three game, Bjorkstrand has scored two goals for the Jackets. The first came in the Jackets win over the Maple Leafs. The second was scored in the Jackets Sunday evening loss against the Predators.
Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo swapped places on Sunday night to give Korpisalo a chance to play during the Jackets bye week.
Rankings
Record: 24-20-2-4, 54 points, .540 win percentage, 4th Central, 8th West
The Iowa Wild and Cleveland Monsters spent the week bouncing between the 4th and 5th spot in the division. Luckily, after dropping two in a row to the Rockford IceHogs, the Monsters were able to come back and beat the Wild. Had they not beat the Wild, the Monsters would have a lot of ground to cover this upcoming week.
It’s important the Monsters win the next four of their road games.
Team Leaders
Point Scorers
- T.J. Tynan; 27
- Sonny Milano; 25
- Daniel Zaar; 23
Goal Scorers
- Markus Hannikainen, Sonny Milano, 11
- Justin Scott, Alex Broadhurst, 9
- Daniel Zaar, 8
Assists
- T.J. Tynan, 21
- Daniel Zaar, 15
- Sonny Milano, 14
Penalty Minutes
- Brett Gallant,89
- Oleg Yevenko, 60
- John Ramage, 45
Weekly Stats
| Shots For | 100 |
| Shots Against | 97 |
| Goals For | 3 |
| Goals Against | 6 |
| Penalties/Minutes | 13/29 minutes |
| Penalty Kill | 8 for 9 |
| Power Play | 2 for 8 |
| Forsberg | |
| Games Played | 3 |
| Record | 1-2-0-0 |
| Shots Faced | 96 |
| Saves | 91 |
| Time On Ice | 179:06:00 |
Around the AHL
Milestones
Mike McKenna earned his 200th AHL victory on Sunday night. He only the 15th goaltender to win 200 AHL games.
Suspensions
Matt Mangene of the Texas Stars was suspended for six games due to an aggressive cross-check on February 17th.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ Samuel Morin was suspended for two games after a cross-checking incident on Valentine’s Day.
After an illegal check to the head in the Manitoba vs Cleveland game on February 12th, Brett Gallant was suspended for four games.
Andrew Agozzino of the Chicago Wolves was suspended for one game due to an illegal check to the head.
Player Awards
Ryan Pulock of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers was named CCM/AHL Player of the week after notching six points over the course of four games. All three of his assists were scored in the same game.
Story Lines
Martin Frk’s shot is scary. You would have to be a superhero to step in front of one his rockets.
Justin Peters is helping carry the Texas Stars towards the 2016-17 Calder Cup playoffs.
Notable Transactions
The Iowa Wild signed veteran forward, Ryan Carter, to a PTO this past weekend.
The Maple Leafs traded Viktor Loov to the New Jersey Devils for Sergey Kalinin.
Akron/Cleveland Connection
There is only one thing I am going to talk about in regards to the Akron/Cleveland area this week.
Lake Catholic showed a great amount of sportsmanship on Saturday when they declined to cheer or celebrate after every one of their goals.
You can read the story of their sportsmanship here.