CLEVELAND, Ohio- It was the fifth game in seven nights for the Cleveland Monsters, as the team looked to do some home-cooking against the San Antonio Rampage. The Rampage came into tonight’s game with a 1-4 record, as they were eighth in the Pacific Division. The Monsters would get to see an old friend, as Trent Vogelhuber made his return to the Q for the first time as a Rampage.
The game started off in a feeling-out process, as the teams looked to get things going offensively. There was strong defensive showings for most of the period, as the Monsters were able to kill two penalties in the first period. Penalty kills are something that they have done well all season, as they were 23-27 on penalty kills coming into tonight. The Rampage finally found a crack in Anton Forsberg, as they struck twice to take a 2-0 lead. The first goal came off of the stick of J.T. Compher at the 15:41 mark, as the second goal from A.J. Greer came three minutes after the Compher goal. A Cody Goloubef goal forty-seven seconds later at the 18:49 mark made it a 2-1 score going into the locker rooms.
In the second period, the Monsters were caught off-guard by a Alex Belzile goal at the 1:45 mark of the period. That would be the only goal of the period and, as a result, the Monsters would have to play catch-up in the third period. But, due to a Anton Lindholm interference penalty with less than a minute in the period, the Monsters would have a little over a minute left in the power play when the third period began.
The power play would be used effectively, as Oliver Bjorkstrand scored the goal at the fifty-four second mark of the period. The Monsters looked to have the momentum in the game at that point, as they were executing on defense and getting good looks on offense. The Monsters put themselves in an excellent position to tie the game after the Rampage got called for holding. The Monsters pulled Anton Forsberg and added the extra attacker, but the Rampage shut down the offense late, scoring on an empty-net. The Rampage would hold on to a 4-2 lead, dropping the Monsters to 3-3 on the season.
Tomorrow will be the second game of this two-game set against the San Antonio Rampage, as it will be the six game in eight days for the Monsters. As always, make sure to follow everything here on NEOSI. For everything hockey-related, follow @Eli_Mooneyham and @NEOSI_Sprouse.
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