CLEVELAND, Ohio- Sometimes, all it takes for a big win is a bobblehead. Lucky for the Monsters, it just happened to be Anton Forsberg bobblehead night.
All joking aside, the Cleveland Monsters had an excellent turnaround in a 6-3 win over the Texas Stars Saturday night. Cleveland found themselves trailing 3-0 early on but flipped a switch fast top avoid their fourth loss in a row.
In the first frame, Texas took fewer shots than the Monsters but still managed to stroll into the break with a three-goal lead. Matej Stransky started off the Stars’ offensive flurry with a goal at the 4:59 mark. Stransky fought tooth and nail with Blake Siebenaler all the way down to the slot before creating enough space to fire a shot past Forsberg, finding the top-shelf on the left side of the Cleveland netminder. Brandon DeFazio made it 2-0 with a power play goal at the 12:00 mark, sneaking the puck behind Forsberg for the marker. Things continued to go wrong for the Monsters late in the frame, as Caleb Herbert received a pass from Austin Fyten in the privileged area and scored the wraparound goal by netting the puck in the right pocket of the cage at the 17:43 mark.
The Monsters would head into the break down by three, with the positive outlook that they were getting good looks. They just had to score off of them.
The second period was the turning point of the game, as the Monsters started to get rolling.
Marc-Andre Bergeron fired a one-timer from the right face-off circle at the 7:24 mark to get Cleveland on the board. Bergeron’s fifth goal of the year fired up both the team and the crowd, as the momentum was swinging to the Cleveland side. Sonny Milano cut the deficit to one with a ridiculous shot from the left side of the goal line that deflected off of the shoulder protector and mask of Peters, bouncing in for the goal at the 14:03 mark of the middle stanza. The Monsters would head into the break trailing 3-2 after a strong second frame.
It was all Monsters for the rest of the game, as the third frame felt like the team found new-life for the playoff push. The Monsters’ defensive effort tied the game up at three, as a poke-check deflected the puck into the neutral zone. Jordan Maletta found the deflected puck on the left side board and proceeded to handle it with his stick. From there, he moved from the left side of the crease to the right to get the equalizing goal at the 7:24 mark.
The go-ahead goal was a little out of the ordinary. The puck was sent behind the cage of Peters, who went to clear it. Instead, the puck hit the end board and ricocheted in front of the crease. Ryan Craig played it at the 15:07 mark for the fast score as he raced to the puck before Peters could resurface to the front of the cage. Cleveland wouldn’t be done yet, as Sonny Milano (18:29) and Zac Dalpe (19:35) would both seal the game with empty-netters. Cleveland completed their furious comeback to take a 6-3 win.
With the win, Cleveland moves to 28-27-3-4 on the season.
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