by The Cleveland Monsters had their first two home games this past weekend at Rocket Arena on Friday, October 17, and Saturday, October 18. The Monsters faced off against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, who are the AHL team for the Philadelphia Flyers. Cleveland fell short on both Friday and Saturday, losing 0-3 on Friday and 2-3 on Saturday in a shootout. This now makes the Cleveland Monsters 2-1-0-1, and they are currently in third place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
On Friday, the first goal was scored by the Phantoms in the first period at 16:11. They took control of the puck and scored again at 17:12 in the second period. The Monsters looked to make a comeback after the second intermission but were unsuccessful after the Phantoms scored their third goal at 8:18 of the third period, making the final score 3-0. Cleveland Monsters’ Ivan Fedotov made 24 saves out of the 27 shots on goal on Friday night.
The Cleveland Monsters hosted a rematch against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms the following Saturday. The Monsters fell short once again, losing to the Phantoms in a shootout on Saturday night. Cleveland kicked off the first period with a power-play goal from the team’s captain, Brendan Gaunce, at 11:01, assisted by Dysin Mayo and Luca Del Bel Belluz. The Phantoms quickly tied the game with their own goal at 14:15 in the first period.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms scored the only goal of the second period during a power play at 9:41, leaving the Monsters behind by one point going into the second intermission. The Monsters came back in the third period to tie the game and send it to overtime, where Ryland Mosley scored his first professional goal at 17:40 with an assist from Guillaume Richard and Max McCue. After a scoreless overtime, Lehigh Valley scored the only goal in a four-round shootout, to end the game 3-2. Cleveland Monsters’ Ivan Fedotov was back in the net on Saturday night and made 25 saves out of the 28 total shots on goal.
The Cleveland Monsters are back at home at Rocket Arena for their next game on Saturday, October 25 against the Rochester Americans, the AHL team for the Buffalo Sabres, with puck drop at 7 p.m. ET. The game is available to listen to on the Cleveland Monsters’ website, as well as to stream on Rock Entertainment Sports Network and on FloHockey.
