Preview: Monsters at Stars - Round 1
Cleveland Monsters at Texas Stars
Friday, January 6th, 2017 - 8:30pm EST
H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
Radio: 99x (99.1), 99x Online
Cleveland Monsters, 16-12-1-2, 35 points, 4th Central, 8th West
vs
Texas Stars, 15-13-1-1, 32 points, 6th Pacific, 10th West
The Monsters start 2017 off with back-to-back weekend tilt against the Texas Stars.
Historically the Stars have a leg up on the Monsters going 15-9-2-2 when they face each other. Last season, the Monsters fell to the Stars in 3 of their 4 meetings. However, after falling to the San Diego Gulls on New Years Eve, the Stars are on a three-game lose streak.
The Stars are going to come out strong in an attempt to end their three-game slump. No worries, the Monsters have a secret weapon by the name of Marc-Andre Bergeron. Notching six points in his first five appearances with the squad Bergeron is definitely on a hot streak. The veteran defenseman's ability to adapt quickly and learn how his teammates work has been and will continue to be an asset for the Monsters.
3 Keys
1. Rebound
Rebounds make or break the Monsters. When they constantly rebound shots, the Monsters do well. When they don't, it's a whole other story.
2. Stay off the Penalty Kill
Even though the Stars are 15th in the league on the power play, the Monsters need to stay off the penalty kill. Especially in the last four minutes of the game. The past few games the Monsters have found themselves in some pretty tight situations after ending up with a two-man disadvantage in the final minutes of play. The Monsters need to make life easy on themselves and play as clean as possible for 60 minutes.
3. Show no mercy
In the chart below, you will notice the Stars are undefeated when leading after the first period and almost undefeated when leading after the second. The Monsters need to come out fast and score at every opportunity. Running the score up is necessary as the Stars will fight until the final moments of the game. They are much like the Monsters when it comes to grinding until the very end.
| STARS | MONSTERS | |
| 11-0-0-0 | Leading After 1 | 6-0-0-2 |
| 10-1-0-0 | Leading After 2 | 9-1-0-2 |
| 2-4-0-0 | Tied After 1 | 8-6-1-0 |
| 4-3-0-0 | Tied After 2 | 5-2-1-0 |
| 2-9-1-1 | Trailing After 1 | 2-6-0-0 |
| 1-9-1-1 | Trailing After 2 | 2-9-0-0 |
| 6-5-1-1 | Out Shooting Opponent | 9-5-1-0 |
| 8-6-0-0 | Out Shot By Opponent | 7-7-0-1 |
Season Series
01/06/2017
01/07/2017
03/17/2017
03/18/2017
Stats Matchup
| STARS | MONSTERS | |
| 3.43 (5) | GPG | 2.74 (20) |
| 3.60 (29) | GAPG | 2.81 (12) |
| 17.9% (15) | PP% | 17.1% (18) |
| 74.0% (30) | PK% | 83.5% (10) |
| Travis Morin, 11 | G Leader | Oliver Bjorkstrand, 10 |
| Morin, DeFazio, Dowling, 14 | A Leader | TJ Tynan, 17 |
| Travis Morin, 25 | P Leader | TJ Tynan, 21 |
| Dustin Stevenson, 71 | PIM Leader | Brett Gallant, 53 |
| 9-6-0-0 | Road/Home | 6-6-0-1 |
| 4-6-0-0 | Last 10 | 8-1-0-1 |
| 0-3-0-0 | Streaks | 1-0-0-0 |