Recap: Monsters Grind Hard in Overtime Win Against Marlies

Cleveland Monsters (2) at Toronto Marlies (1) - Overtime

Attendance: 5,648

Starters

Monsters

Robinson-Dalpe-Bittner

Carlsson-Simpson

Berube

Marlies

Grundstom-Jooris-Engvall

Liljegren-Rosen

McAdam

Monsters Lines

Robinson-Dalpe-Bittner

Milano-MacInnis-Letestu

Broadhurst-Stenlund-Gerbe

Thurkauf-Scott-Abramov

Monsters Pairings

Cross-Siebenaler

Clendening-Somerby

Carlsson-Simpson

Goal Recap

The Cleveland Monsters and Toronto Marlies were back at it for the second game in a row. This time the boys were playing at the Coca-Cola Coliseum.

It took 12:19 for the first goal of the game to be scored. The Monsters left Mason Marchment unattended in the faceoff circle. Adam Brooks tossed the puck from the left corner to Marchment who dropped to one knee before firing off a shot. The Monsters defense left a wide-open lane for the puck to travel into the net.

The next goal of the game wouldn’t be seen until there was 1:42 left in the game. Nathan Gerbe raced down the ice with the puck before firing off a shot. It bounced off of Eamon McAdam’s pad. Sonny Milano raced into the slot and backhanded the rebound into the right side of the net.

Both teams tried to wrap the game up in regulation. This is a Monsters vs Marlies game we are talking about. So, obviously, it had to go to overtime for the second night in a row. However, this time the Monsters came out on top.

A little over one minute into overtime, Milano barreled towards the net hungry for a goal. When he realized there was no chance, Milano passed the puck over to Mark Letestu who banged it home for the game winning goal.

But Wait! There’s More

Quick Thoughts

• In the first few minutes of the game, the fourth line was on fire but managed to take two stupid penalties. For every amazing thing that happened they did an equally dumb thing. If they can learn to play a fast paced game without taking any penalties, this particular fourth line will be just fine.
• Despite being down a man for six of the first 10 minutes of the game, momentum stayed in the Monsters favor.
• Play has been extra unselfish lately. There have been many times in the past two games where someone passed the puck off instead of shooting down an open lane. I’m unsure why the automatic reaction was to pass it off but the guys need to start getting a little selfish with the puck.
• Sonny Milano brought a lot of energy and aggression to the game tonight. He even slammed Timothy Liljegren into the glass causing Liljegren to drop like a sack of potatoes.
• At no point in tonight’s game did the Monsters look like they were going to throw in the towel. They worked hard until the very end. A team that can grind until the very end is a team that is headed in the right direction. /

3 Stars

1st – Jean-Francois Berube (24 shots faced, 23 saves, 60:45 TOI)

2^nd – Mark Letestu (1g, 0a)

3^rd – Eamon McAdam (27 shots faced, 25 saves, 61:01 TOI)

Game Stats

What’s Next

After tonight’s game, both teams pack up their stuff and head back to Cleveland to play a 7pm game on Wednesday, November 28^th at Quicken Loans Arena. Wednesday is “Hoppy Hour” night. You can buy a lower-level ticket starting at $11 and receive a 12 oz domestic beer or Pepsi product. You can buy tickets here.

Also, you can bring a new unwrapped toy to the game. The toys will be distributed to pre-selected non-profit organizations that serve children in Northeast Ohio. The Monsters will be collecting toys until December 15, 2018.