Cleveland Monsters at Rockford IceHogs
Saturday, February 17th, 2018
7pm est
BMO Harris Bank Center
Radio: 99x(99.1); 99x Online
Twitter: @goicehogs, @Monstershockey
Cleveland Monsters, 16-26-4-3, 39 points, .398 win%, 7th Central, 15th West
vs
Rockford IceHogs, 25-21-3-3, 56 points, .538 win%, 6th Central, 12th West
Tonight is the last time the Cleveland Monsters and Rockford IceHogs will meet during the 2017-18 regular season. The Monsters currently lead the series 4-2-0-1. It’s the only series where the Monsters are .500 or more.
The IceHogs are currently on a three-game loss streak and have a record of 3-6-1-0 in their last 10 games. Guys like Tomas Jurco, Matthew Highmore, and Tanner Kero thrive on the thirst of a win. They will likely start the game with a fire in their bellies. Lucky for the Monsters they don’t have to worry about Ville Pokka as he was traded to the Ottawa Senators earlier this week for Chris DiDomenico.
With 14.5%, the Monsters are no longer last in the league on the power play. The position has been taken over by the IceHogs who are 13.1% on the power play. They also have a worse pk percentage than the Monsters with 77.7%.
The Monsters’ special teams units continue to get better while some units in the division are at a stalemate.
Tonight, Cleveland needs to work on scooping up rebounds and defensive zone coverage. In Thursday night’s loss to the Chicago Wolves, the Monsters couldn’t pick up a rebound to save their life. Other than that the Monsters are doing all the right things to put together a win. If they continue down that path tonight, they can take down the IceHogs and walk away with a series win.
Sonny Milano is back in action and was sent to the Cleveland Monsters yesterday.
Season Series
10/7/2017 – Rockford (4) at Cleveland (0) – recap
10/31/2017 – Rockford (2) at Cleveland (3) – preview – recap
01/02/2018 – Cleveland (4) at Rockford (1) – preview – recap
01/06/2018 – Cleveland (3) at Rockford (4) – shootout – preview – recap
01/17/2018 – Rockford (3) at Cleveland (4) – shootout – preview – recap
01/19/2018 – Rockford (4) at Cleveland (3) – preview – recap
02/13/2018 – Cleveland (3) at Rockford (1) – preview – recap
02/17/2018