Cleveland Monsters (1) at Iowa Wild (4)
Attendance: 4,503
Starters
Monsters
T.Broadhurst-A.Broadhurst-Kurker
Ramage-Carlsson
Kivlenieks
Wild
Anas-Kloos-Mayhew
Grant-Palmquist
Michalek
Monsters Lines
T.Broadhurst-A.Broadhurst-Kurker
Bittner-Camper-Koules
Scott-Vigneault-Hodgson
Gallant-Maletta-Thurkauf
Monsters Pairings
Somerby-Siebenaler
Benoit-Gaunce
Carlsson-Ramage
Goal Recap
The Iowa Wild beat the Cleveland Monsters, 4-1, in regulation tonight. It was a gradual win for the Wild. The Monsters had a shot at winning all the way until the final two and a half minutes of the game.
With a little over five minutes to play in the first period, Cal O’Reilly stole the puck from Paul Bittner at the faceoff dot. He bounced the puck off of his teammate Ryan Murphy and fired it from the opposite faceoff circle over Matiss Kivlenieks’ glove.
The Wild’s second goal of the night came with three minutes left in the second period. Justin Kloos fed the puck to Sam Anas who was located between both faceoff circles. He fired it past Kivlenieks’ glove for the goal.
Nick Seeler extended the Wild’s lead over the Monsters to 3-0 in the first six and half minutes of the third period. Hayden Hodgson saw Seeler winding up below the blue line and threw his body in front to block the shot. Seeler faked the shot, moved to the left, and fired the puck off of the right side of the crossbar into the net.
Around six minutes later, the Monsters would tally their first and only goal of the evening. Doyle Somerby headed towards the right corner to pick up a loose puck. He managed to fire the puck towards Terry Broadhurst before being slammed into the glass. Broadhurst one-timed the pass through Carson Saucy’s legs and onto the stick of Blake Siebenaler. From the top of the faceoff circle, Siebenaler launched the puck into the net.
With a little over a minute to play, the Wild extended their lead to 4-1. Brennan Menell launched the puck from below the faceoff circle in front of Michalek all the way down the ice and into the Monsters empty net.
But Wait! There’s More
Quick Thoughts
- Stop me if you have heard this before. The Monsters first power play of the night consisted of passing, passing, passing, and more passing. I get the power play passing game. Sometimes there isn’t an opening or you’re trying to tire out the opposition. At some point, a team needs to abandon this style of play and go balls to the wall attacking the net and scooping up rebounds.
- Matiss Kivlenieks is a capable goalie. Young? Yes. Makes mistakes? What goalie doesn’t? Capable? Of course! If he wasn’t, Kivlenieks wouldn’t be playing in the AHL. As capable as Kivlenieks is the defense needs to help him out by shutting down the opposition’s scoring chances and clearing out rebounds.
- The Monsters didn’t look bad tonight. They didn’t play a super sloppy game or make a lot of egregious flubs. They were tired and just couldn’t get things going. However, no excuses are to be had for this team. The Wild played their third game in three days. They are the ones who should have played lethargically.
- I’m a positive person so here is your little ray of sunshine for the night. The Broadhurst brothers are consistently great and should NEVER be separated. Brett Gallant and Calvin Thurkauf play well together. Both are severely underrated and are looking for their chance to shine. Sam Kurker is one of the best acquisitions of the season by the Monsters. Whoever found this guy deserves a raise. Sam Vigneault has been grinding his butt off since coming back into the lineup. He’s going to break out soon. I can feel it. /
3 Stars
1st – Nick Seeler (1g, 0a)
2nd – Sam Anas (1g, 0a)
3rd – Steve Michalek (16 shots faced, 15 saves, 60:00 TOI)
Game Stats
Captaincy Report
With Zac Dalpe back in Columbus, the “A” was moved to Brett Gallant. Both Andre Benoit and Carter Camper continue to wear the “A” on their sweater.
Milestones
Nick Seeler (IA) scored his first professional goal in the third period. It took him over 90 games to put a notch in the goal column.
Terry Broadhurst is riding a four-game point streak.
What’s Next
The road trip continues for the Monsters as they travel to Milwaukee to take on the Admirals on Wednesday.
Then they head to Michigan to play the Grand Rapids Griffins in a back-to-back weekend series on January 12th and 13th.