Preview: Monsters, Wild Battle for 5th Place
Iowa Wild at Cleveland Monsters
Friday, March 24th at 7pm est
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Radio: 99x(99.1); 99x Online
Twitter: @IAWild ,
@MonstersHockey , #CLEMonsters
Cleveland Monsters, 30-27-3-4, 67 points, 6th Central, 10th West
vs
Iowa Wild, 30-26-6-2, 68 points, 5th Central, 9th West
The Cleveland Monsters sit one point behind the Iowa Wild in the standings. A win in regulation would put the Monsters within arms reach of the playoffs. With this in mind, tonight's game will more than likely be a real barn burner.
The Iowa Wild lost a few of their core players to this year's NHL trade deadline. The most notable were Teemu Pulkkinen and Grayson Downing. The two of them had a habit of getting the best of the Monsters.
Even though Pulkkinen and Downing are gone, the Monsters still have a few players to keep their eye on. Mike Reilly is always looking for a chance to shine against the Blue Jackets organization. Whether he is setting up plays or scoring goals, Christoph Bertchy tends to bring his best game against the Monsters. Nick Seeler knows how to get under the skin of even the most level-headed players. The Monsters want to get as few penalties as possible during this game. So, cooler heads will have to prevail.
With the exception of their first meeting of the season, the Wild's goalie tandem of Alex Stalock and Steve Michalek stand strong against the Monsters. They have shut the Monsters out twice this season.
The Monsters have won only one of four meetings in their home barn against the Wild. However, the Monsters and Wild currently split the season series at four wins each. Only half of their match ups have been decided in regulation.
| Wild | Monsters | |
| 20-4-2-0 | Leading After 1 | 9-2-1-2 |
| 22-2-3-1 | Leading After 2 | 15-2-0-2 |
| 8-10-1-1 | Tied After 1 | 13-9-2-1 |
| 5-5-3-1 | Tied After 2 | 11-5-3-0 |
| 2-12-3-1 | Trailing After 1 | 8-16-0-1 |
| 3-19-0-0 | Trailing After 2 | 4-20-0-2 |
| 13-7-2-1 | Outshooting Opponent | 14-9-1-2 |
| 16-18-4-1 | Outshot by Opponent | 16-18-2-1 |
Season Series
10/25/2016 – Monsters (7) @ Wild (3) W – recap
12/14/2016 – Wild (3) @ Monsters (4) = W (OT) – recap
12/16/2016 – Wild (2) @ Monsters (1) = L(SO) – recap
02/03/2017 – Wild (3) @ Monsters (0) = L – recap
02/04/2017 – Wild (1) @ Monsters (0) = L (OT) – recap
02/08/2017 – Monsters (2) @ Wild (1) = W (OT) – recap
02/19/2017 – Monsters (2) @ Wild (0) = W – recap
02/20/2017 – Monsters (2) @ Wild (4) = L – recap
03/24/2017
03/26/2017
04/02/2017
04/04/2017
Stats Matchup
| Wild | Monsters | |
| 2.45 (28) | GPG | 2.47 (27) |
| 2.58 (5) | GAPG | 2.80 (12) |
| 18.1% (12) | PP% | 14.4% (28) |
| 81.9% (15) | PK% | 84.4% (5) |
| Alex Tuch, 15 | G Leader | Sonny Milano, 15 |
| Mike Reilly, 19 | A Leader | T.J. Tynan, 25 |
| Alex Tuch, 31 | P Leader | Sonny Milano, 35 |
| Nick Seeler, 105 | PIM Leader | Brett Gallant, 102 |
| 18-13-3-0 | Road/Home | 17-10-2-2 |
| 5-4-1-0 | Last 10 | 6-4-0-0 |
| 0-2-0-0 | Streaks | 3-0-0-0 |