Preview: Monsters, Griffins Play Back-to-Back Away and Home Series
The Cleveland Monsters and Grand Rapids Griffins play back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.
Grand Rapids Griffins vs Cleveland Monsters
Saturday, April 8th at 7pm est
Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
AND
Sunday, April 9th at 5pm est
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Sunday's game will be aired on WUAB – CLE 43
Radio: 99x(99.1); 99x Online
Twitter: @griffinshockey, #GoGRG
@MonstersHockey , #CLEMonsters
Cleveland Monsters, 36-28-4-4, 80 points, 0.556 win%, 5th Central, 9th West
vs
Grand Rapids Griffins, 44-22-1-4, 93 points, .655 win%, 1st Central, 3rd West
The Monsters and the Griffins play a back-to-back away and home series this weekend. Tonight they play in Grand Rapids. After the game they both hop on a bus heading towards Cleveland for tomorrow's tilt at 5pm. Both teams will have to fight through the tight turn around and lack of sleep to pull out a win on Sunday.
The Monsters are powered by dreams of the playoffs. While the Griffins are powered by the dream of 100 points, becoming first in the West, and home ice advantage. Both are pretty strong motivators to sweep the weekend.
This season, both teams have won five games against the other. With six wins, the Griffins currently lead the series. Two of the four wins for the Monsters came in extra frames.
The Griffins have an outstanding record when they have the lead in games. When leading after one they have a record of 31-1-0-0. There record when leading after two is 31-2-1-0. Like most of their games this season, the Monsters need to score first and keep the positive momentum in their favor for at least 60 minutes of play.
Friday, Matt Lorito was recalled by the Detroit Red Wings. This is one less playmaker the Monsters have to worry about. However, Evgeny Svechnikov is still lighting it up for the Griffins. The Monsters will have to keep an eye on him.
Luckily, the Monsters have Zac Dalpe to help power them through the series. He's on a hot six-game goal streak.
Madden keeps preaching putting pucks on net and staying out of the box. If the Monsters attack the net and not take stupid penalties they will be able to keep up with the Griffins.
| Griffins | Monsters | |
| 31-1-0-0 | Leading After 1 | 11-2-1-2 |
| 31-2-1-0 | Leading After 2 | 20-2-0-2 |
| 8-7-1-2 | Tied After 1 | 17-10-3-1 |
| 10-1-0-2 | Tied After 2 | 12-5-3-0 |
| 5-14-0-2 | Trailing After 1 | 8-16-0-1 |
| 3-19-0-2 | Trailing After 2 | 4-21-1-2 |
| 28-14-0-3 | Outshooting Opponent | 17-10-2-2 |
| 15-7-1-1 | Outshot by Opponent | 19-18-2-1 |
Season Series
10/22/2016 – Monsters (2) @ Griffins (3) = L – recap
11/9/2016 – Monsters (4) @ Griffins (5) = L (SO) – recap
11/25/2016 – Monsters (3) @ Griffins (5) = L – recap
11/26/2016 – Monsters (2) @ Griffins (6) = L – recap
11/30/2016 - Griffins (2) @ Monsters (3) = W (SO) – recap
12/02/2016 – Griffins (2) @ Monsters (3) = W (OT) – recap
12/28/2016 – Griffins (3) @ Monsters (2) = L - recap
12/30/2016 – Griffins (0) @ Monsters (4) = W – recap
01/21/2017 – Monsters (0) @ Griffins (5) = L – recap
02/28/2017 – Griffins (1) @ Monsters (4) = W – recap
04/08/2017
04/09/2017
Stats Matchup
| Griffins | Monsters | |
| 3.35 (4) | GPG | 2.53 (26) |
| 2.51 (3) | GAPG | 2.64 (7) |
| 24.9% (2) | PP% | 16.4% (19) |
| 82.3%(13) | PK% | 85.8% (3) |
| Martin Frk, 27 | G Leader | Markus Hannikainen, 17 |
| Evgeny Svechnikov, 27 | A Leader | T.J. Tynan, 28 |
| Martin Frk, 50 | P Leader | Sonny Milano, 43 |
| Dylan McIlrath, 70 | PIM Leader | Brett Gallant, 111 |
| 21-12-1-2 | Road | 16-17-2-2 |
| 23-10-0-2 | Home | 20-11-2-2 |
| 5-5-0-0 | Last 10 | 8-1-1-0 |
| 1-0-0-0 | Streaks | 3-0-1-0 |