Monsters defeated by Laval Rocket 5-2
The Cleveland Monsters lost their fourth-straight game Thursday night, a 5-2 loss at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to Laval Rocket.
Things did not get much easier for the Cleveland Monsters at home Thursday. Cleveland found themselves on the wrong side of a 5-2 final score in their first game against Laval Rocket.
This was not a case of Laval having more shots on goal. This was a case of Laval having quality shots while Cleveland’s were not. The Monsters led in shots 31-21, but Laval was able to find the back of the net nearly a quarter of the time.
Cleveland was able to convert 1 of their 5 power play opportunities. This is about par for the course in this department. The Monsters are not a good team on the power play and Thursday was a perfect example of that. Laval was able to score on 1 of their 3 power play chances, taking advantage of Cleveland’s usual strong penalty kill.
The Monsters found themselves down 3 goals before they scored their first goal of the evening. Branden Troock scored his 3rd goal of the season with the 2nd period nearly complete (19:40). Justin Scott and recent PTO signee Lindsay Sparks assisted on the goal.
Down 3 goals again, Sam Vigneault found the back of net with his 11th goal on the year. Marko Dano and Adam Clendening received their 14th and 33rd assists on the season.
Veini Vehvilainen got the start in net and struggled yet again. Vehvilainen has allowed 3 goals or more in seven consecutive games, not necessarily a good stretch. 1 of Laval’s 5 goals came on an empty net with 57 seconds remaining.
