The Cleveland Monsters were not able to complete a sweep of the Binghamton Devils, settling for a split with a 4-0 loss on Sunday afternoon.
The Cleveland Monsters got some bad news prior to puck drop on Sunday as Derek Barach is suspended for his actions in Friday’s game against Binghamton. Barach’s cross-checking penalty was deemed severe enough to warrant a suspension. Barach scored two of Cleveland’s three goals on Friday.
Cleveland listed the following players as inactive: Ryan Collins, Justin Scott, Derek Barach, Zac Dalpe, Michael Prapavessis, Markus Hannikainen, Marko Dano.
1st period
The first few minutes of the game were a bit more aggressive when compared to their first meeting. There was no testing the waters or seeing how the opponent reacts. It was go time right from the start. No messing around whatsoever. Each team was decisive and aggressive early on with how they played the puck and getting in position to attempt a shot on goal.
Cleveland’s Bryan Moore was the first player to receive a penalty in this one. A hooking penalty sent Moore to the penalty box and put Cleveland on the penalty kill. Cleveland successfully killed the penalty and returned to full strength without any damage done.
With just over nine minutes gone in the 1st the Monsters found themselves on the penalty kill again. This time Brett Gallant was called for high-sticking, resulting in a two-minute penalty. Cleveland’s penalty kill came to the rescue again, preventing the Devils from striking first.
Binghamton got on the scoreboard first with a goal from Brett Seney. Seney was just to the left of Vehvilainen and snuck the puck past him into the net. It was only a matter of time before Binghamton scored. The Devils were clearly in control for some time and it seemed inevitable that they would take the lead.
Binghamton led in shot attempts during the 1st period 13-5. To be blunt, Binghamton was just more aggressive to start the game. The different in the level of aggression certainly led to the shot disparity and the Devils leaned on the scoreboard. Cleveland just had a difficult time keeping possession of the puck for any period of time, making things difficult to get anything going offensively.
2nd period
After about five minutes of a non-stop attack from Binghamton, the Devils increased their lead to two. The shot from Nick Merkley deflected off of Adam Clendening’s skate and went into the net.
Monsters head coach Mike Eaves would comment on the goal and the impact it made after the game.
Cleveland was able to capture some of the momentum midway through the 2nd period. The Monsters just seemed to be playing with more energy when compared to the 1st and looked a bit more composed as well. The problem? Nothing came of it.
A Gabriel Carlsson slashing penalty put Cleveland’s back against the wall yet again. However the Monsters were only shorthanded for 11 seconds. Binghamton’s Brett Seney was called for holding the stick, resulting in a two-minute penalty of his own. Before anyone could get comfortable in the 4-on-4 situation Binghamton increased their lead to three on a Josh Jacobs goal.
Binghamton ended the period with 18 shots on goal during the 2nd compared to Cleveland’s 10. After two periods Binghamton has twice as many shots on goal as Cleveland (30-15).
3rd period
Binghamton extended their lead to four with a goal from Egor Sharangovich (2:51). Sharangovich stole the puck from right behind the net and just shot it right past Veini Vehvilainen.
There was a near goal for the Devils as a shot from Fabian Zetterlund went right between Vehvilainen’s legs and almost crossed the line. Luckily Abbot Girduckis cleared the puck and Binghamton did not increase their lead to five on what would have been an ugly goal.
The Monsters found themselves on a power play after a brief scuffle between Paul Bittner and Michael McLeod. Unfortunately the Monsters were not able to anything with their opportunity as Binghamton was able to stifle their attack.
The two teams traded shots for the final 10 minutes of the game until the clock read 0:00, resulting in a 4-0 Monsters loss.
Binghamton led in shots on goal (42-22). This was the third straight game that Cleveland trailed in shots. The Monsters are on the wrong side of a 124-67 shot differential over their past three games. It certainly is hard to win games on a consistent basis when they have nearly twice the amount of shots on goal.