CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Utica Comets 7-1 on Friday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. With the loss, the Monsters are now 22-22-4-2 and are currently in sixth place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
Utica’s Reilly Walsh scored the lone goal of the first period on the power play at 13:28 leaving Cleveland trailing 1-0 after 20 minutes. The Comets took control of the middle frame with goals from Graeme Clarke at 2:17, Filip Engaras at 7:04 and Robbie Russo at 14:12. Luka Burzan notched his first tally as a Monster at 18:05 assisted by Justin Richards and Jake Christiansen, but the Comets added markers from Aarne Talvitie at 19:22 and Jack Dugan at 19:44 extending the deficit to 6-1 heading into the final intermission. Utica’s Brian Halonen scored the last goal of the night at 8:21 of the third period bringing the final score to 7-1.
Cleveland’s Pavel Cajan made 13 stops in relief of Jet Greaves made 18 saves in defeat while Utica’s Nico Daws stopped 20 shots for the win.
The Monsters visit the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday, February 25, with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop at Van Andel Arena. Follow the games with full coverage on FOX Sports 1350 ‘The Gambler’, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.
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Scoring:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | SO | Final | ||||||||
| CLE | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 1 | |||||||
| UTC | 1 | 5 | 1 | – | – | 7 |
Shots/Special Teams:
| Shots | PP | PK | PIM | ||||||
| CLE | 21 | 0/4 | 4/5 | 20 min / 7 inf | |||||
| UTC | 38 | 1/5 | 4/4 | 18 min / 6 inf |
Goaltenders:
| Goaltender | Outcome | Saves | GA | Record | |||||||
| CLE | Greaves | L | 18 | 3 | 11-11-4 | ||||||
| CLE | Cajan | ND | 13 | 4 | 7-7-2 | ||||||
| UTC | Daws | W | 20 | 1 | 13-12-2 |
Cleveland Record: 22-22-4-2, 6th North Division
Utica Record: 25-20-5-2, 2nd North Division
Cleveland Monsters Official Press Release
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