Hello, all! In this week’s Monsters review we focus on the Monsters’ final weekend that opened against what, at the time, would’ve been Lake Erie’s first round opponent, the Grand Rapids Griffins. In the first, Grand Rapid’s Eric Tangradi opened the scoring when his shot made it past Joonas Korpisalo. John Ramage then got the Monsters on the board when TJ Tynan took a pass from Dean Kukan, stick handled into the zone, and dropped a pass to Ramage that he hammered into the net to tie the game. Late in the first, the hottest Monster of late Lukas Sedlak added to his goal streak. Out of a board battle, Justin Falk came out with the puck and drove to the net before either passing it out front or shooting it (hard to tell from highlight). But either way, Sedlak cleaned it up to make it 2-1 for his sixth straight game with a goal. After another Griffins goal midway through the second, the Monsters put their foot on the gas for the rest of the game. Three minutes after the Griffs goal, Alex Broadhurst found Ramage at the point. His shot was tipped by Sonny Milano for his 13th of the season. 19 seconds later, Michael Chaput capitalized on a Griffins mistake when Mitch Callahan tried to pass to Andy Miele along the wall. Chaput stole the puck, skated in and scored his 16th of the season. In the third, Sedlak struck again when he deflected a Kukan point shot off a draw to make it 5-2. The Griffins scored a late third period goal to make it 5-3. Korpisalo made 20 saves in the win.
Quickly, before the game it was announced that Zach Werenski added to his impressive NCAA season by being named second team all USCHO.
To close out the season, the Charlotte Checkers come to town. The Checkers were fighting for their playoff lives and trying to clinch the crossover spot (basically a Western Conference team plays in the Eastern Conference playoffs), but the Monsters had other plans. After a scoreless first, the Great Dane struck when Kerby Rychel chipped the puck ahead with Tynan gathering it and taking off on a two on one with Oliver Bjorkstrand. Tynan then sauced a pass to Oliver in the slot and Oliver promptly scored his 16th of the season. Eight minutes later, Sedlak struck again when he deflected a Falk point shot to notch goals in seven straight games. After a Checkers goal late in the third, Rychel scored for the first time in four months (it is important to note he did miss most of January and February) when he went off on a two on one with Tynan. The win clinched the Monsters home ice advantage in the playoffs. Also in the win, Anton Forsberg made 32 saves.
Another highlight of the game: Paul Bittner made his pro debut playing his first game since December when he underwent hip surgery.
To close out the regular season, the Monsters closed out the back to back against Charlotte with a number of players sitting out due to the playoff spot being secured. The game got off to a rough start with Brock McGinn putting the Monsters down 2-0 just over 10 minutes into the game. Broadhurst finally got the Monsters on the board when he picked up the rebound of a Steve McCarthy point shot. Midway through the second, Mark Cundari tied the game at two with a blast from the point. Early in the third, Bjorkstrand gave the Monsters the lead out of a chaotic sequence to make it 3-2. Midway into the third, Milano drove into the zone and dropped a pass to Josh Anderson who fired a shot that was stopped but Sonny gathered the rebound to make it 4-2. Late in the third, Nick Moutrey scored an empty net goal when he took a pass from Milano and outskated two Checkers defenders to make it 5-2 with his first goal since Feburary 11th. Korpisalo made 21 saves in his eight win of the season.
Looking at the regular season in review:
- TJ Tynan led the Monsters/Falcons for the second season picking up just two points less that his rookie season.
- John Ramage led the Monsters blueline in scoring. He picked up 27 points in 68 games and set a career high.
- Monsters among the AHL leaders include Tynan who was seventh in the AHL in assists. Michael Chaput’s seven game winning goals were second in the AHL.
- Oleg Yevenko was sixth amongst AHL tough guys, or sixth in penalty minutes and second amongst rookies, Brett Gallant was seventh in the league.
- Daniel Zaar was second in the AHL in shots on goal and Anton Forsberg was eighth in wins.
- Daniel Zaar’s 21 goals led the team and that makes him the first 20 goal scorer since the 2012-13 season and the first CBJ draft pick to score 20 goals since Cam Atkinson in 2011-12.
- This season was full of history making as the Monsters 97 points was a franchise record as was their 25 wins at the Q.
- The Monsters record was the best by a Cleveland AHL team since the 52-53 Barons.
As for the playoffs, the Monsters will face off against the Rockford IceHogs. In “things I didn’t know,” having home ice advantage means the team and Hockey Ops gets to decide the playoff schedule as far as location. The Monsters decided to open the series on the road for games one and two in Rockford while game three and four and five if necessary. The opening round of the playoffs is best of five before switching to seven for the rest of the playoffs. In the regular season, the Monsters and Hogs faced off eight times with the teams splitting and the home team winning each game (which makes the starting off on the road even stranger). As for the season series, Josh Anderson led the way with a goal and six assists. Daniel Zaar was second with five points including two goals. Anton Forsberg led the charge in net by winning three games in the six of eight in which he played.
There you have it folks! As for our next recap it’ll likely be a CHL playoff recap with a Lake Erie Monsters recap coming after that. I plan on being in Cleveland for game three.
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