The Cleveland Monsters beat the Rockford IceHogs 7-3 for their first victory of the season on Monday night at BMO Harris Bank Center. With the win, the Monsters are now 1-2-1-0 and are currently in fifth place in the AHL’s Central Division standings.
Cleveland’s Zac Dalpe began the opening frame by scoring two goals 11 seconds apart with the first tally at 4:15 off feeds from Tyler Sikura and Wyatt Newpower and the second marker at 4:26 assisted by Trey Fix-Wolansky and Sikura. Carson Meyer pushed the score to 3-0 in favor of the Monsters after recording his first professional goal at 6:24 with helpers from Newpower and Evan Polei.
Rockford responded with a shorthanded tally from Chris Wilkie at 8:04 and Brad Morrison’s goal at 10:53 to send Cleveland into the first intermission leading 3-2. The Monsters continued to come together offensively in the middle frame starting with Fix-Wolansky’s power-play marker at 4:37 off feeds from Nathan Gerbe and Dillon Simpson.
Meyer scored his second goal of the night at 5:28 with Justin Scott picking up the helper before Scott notched his own shorthanded tally at 10:28 to bring the score to 6-2 after 40 minutes.
The IceHogs struck quickly following Mitchell Fossier’s goal nine seconds into the third period, but Gerbe solidified the Monsters win with a power-play tally at 17:07 off assists from Fix-Wolansky and Simpson putting the final score at 7-3.
Cleveland’s Brad Thiessen made 29 saves in victory while Rockford’s Cale Morris made 13 saves in relief of starting goaltender Matt Tomkins who stopped 17 shots in defeat.
The Monsters rematch the Rockford IceHogs tomorrow, February 23, for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop at BMO Harris Bank Center. Follow the games with full coverage on FOX Sports 1350AM ‘The Gambler’, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.
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