The Monsters fell to the Checkers after allowing five unanswered goals in tonight’s tilt.
Both teams played rather sloppy for the first five minutes of the game. Which was only made worse by less than stellar ice conditions.
The first penalty of the night didn’t come until five and a half minutes into the first. Craig was called for holding giving the Checkers the man advantage. During the Monsters penalty kill, a few players stepped up to the challenge which lay ahead of them. Both Maletta and Sifers broke up essential plays the Checkers had put into action featuring Chelios. Thirty seconds into the penalty kill, Milano broke away from the pack and launched the puck into the net behind Nedeljkovic putting the Monsters on the board first.
Seven minutes later Bjorkstrand would extend the Monsters lead to two.
Thiessen came up big multiple times during the first period of play. The most notable happened in the last minute of play in the first frame. Poturalski tried to sneak a shot through the five-hole but Thiessen was able to close it up just in time.
The Monsters third and final goal of the game would come three minutes into the second period. Heatherington fired a laser from the point which caught Maletta’s stick as it sailed into the net.
After Maletta’s goal, the Monsters were flying high.
With a little over four minutes to play in the second, things began to go awry for the Monsters.
Ramage inadvertently took down Heard and was sent to the box for interference. The penalty lit the Checkers on fire. Thirty seconds into the penalty, Dwyer fired a shot from the right circle and Di Giuseppe knocked it in past Thiessen. Ten seconds later Nestrasil powers through traffic and launches the puck into the net.
No matter what the Monsters did they just couldn’t get their mojo back. Three more goals would be scored before the horn blew.
With eight minutes to play, an unattended Wallmark scooped up his own rebound and slammed the puck past Thiessen. Five minutes later, Thiessen would decide to send the puck around the back of the net. Unfortunately, Brown was waiting in his blind spot ready to pass the puck off to Tolchinsky who would score.
The Monsters pulled Thiessen for the extra attacker and turned up the heat in the final minute of the game. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. Wallmark would pad the score with an empty net goal as the horn sounded.
Next up the Monsters take on the IceHogs at Quicken Loan Arena in Cleveland on Wednesday.