Milwaukee Admirals (2) at Cleveland Monsters (3) – Overtime
The Cleveland Monsters returned home hungry for a win against the Milwaukee Admirals.
This hunger didn’t quite translate to the ice in the first period. It was a bit of a slow and imperfect game for the Monsters.
“I thought we were sloppy tonight. I thought we had no energy in the first period. I thought both teams were just trying to feel each other out.” – Head Coach John Madden
After three point-blank shots in a row, the Admirals were the first on the board 3:23 into the second period.
Not even three minutes later, Kole Sherwood fired back with a top shelf snipe from the left faceoff dot to tie the game at one.
“We played well for the first half of the second period. And then we started trying to make too many plays and be cute with the puck. They just kept coming at us” – Head Coach John Madden
With 4:36 left in the second period, the Admirals took the 2-1 lead over the Monsters. Yakov Trenin received the puck at the blue line before taking off down the ice towards Berube. Dillon Simpson tried with all of his might to get there before Trenin could turn his breakaway into a goal.
Almost three minutes later, Zac Dalpe tied the game at two with quite the phenomenal power play goal. Dalpe fired off a shot from below the goal line and it bounced off of Jared Tinordi’s skate into the net.
“yea the first goal, I don’t really get goals like that. So, it’s nice to get rewarded. We call those cookies. It was nice to have a cookie there.” – Zac Dalpe
Despite the Admirals’ best effort, the Monsters were able to prevent them from scoring for the remaining 1:44 of the second period.
“The third period was more our style. We waited for our turns and capitalized on our chances.” – Head Coach John Madden
Brett Gallant and Matieu Olivier dropped the gloves 2:34 into the third period. At the time, the Admirals had control of the puck near Berube. They had no plans of giving up the puck until they scored.
The fight immediately took the momentum away from the Admirals and gave it to the Monsters.
“The fans don’t really know what that fight meant to us. I know it’s barbaric and people may not agree with fights. That sparks us. I owe it to Gally for the spark we had. That was a great fight.” – Zac Dalpe
This spark powered the Monsters to attack the net and create incredible plays. While they weren’t able to score, the Monsters were push the game into overtime for the 17th time this season. Since the Monsters are pros when it comes to overtime, they were able to wrap things up in 16 seconds.
Dalpe was the hero of the day with his backhanded shot through McCollum’s five-hole.
“I don’t know why I decided to turn and go to my back hand. While I was going it, I was like ‘Why am I doing this’ and then it went it. So, it worked out.” – Zac Dalpe
Walking away from tonight’s game with two points was huge for the Monsters. If they can continue to rack up wins, the season will shape up just fine.
3 Stars
1st – Zac Dalpe (2g, 0a)
2nd – Kole Sherwood (1g, 0a)
3rd – Jean-Francois Berube (25 shots faced, 23 saves, 60:16 TOI)
Game Stats
Monsters Lines
DeSalvo-Letestu-Stenlund
Scott-MacInnis-Korostelev
Bittner-Dalpe-Sherwood
Gallant-Vigneualt-Koules
Monsters Pairings
Cross-Prapavessis
Somerby-Collins
Carlsson-Simpson
What’s Next
The Monsters and Admirals return to battle on Sunday, February 24th at 3pm est.