Coming back from an extended break is never easy. The Cleveland Monsters had to regroup and play two games in a short period of time. Cleveland had some positives and some negatives come out of their split with Utica this past weekend.
Energy
Head coach Mike Eaves praised the energy level of his guys the past two games but it seemed to be fairly inconsistent overall, more so in the first game than the second game. The Monsters looked very sluggish on Friday and it appeared to be a struggle to get anything going. This even carried over into Saturday’s game. It took a short-handed goal in Saturday’s win to get things going and still it didn’t last. While Cleveland used the short-handed goal to propel themselves to a 3-1 lead, they were not able to keep momentum on their side. Utica nearly came back to tie the game, luckily the Monsters were able to fend off the late surge from the Comets to come away with a win.
It’s really great that they were able to seize the momentum early in the game, but they need to make sure they are ready to go from the start. It really didn’t seem like they were Friday or Saturday. Perhaps being on more of a regular schedule moving forward will keep the Monsters on track and prevent them from their sluggish starts.
Penalty kill
Cleveland found themselves down a man quite often against Utica, they are even down two men when the Comets pulled their goalie late in Saturday’s game. Utica had 9 power play opportunities and Cleveland only allowed 2 goals in these situations. If a team finds itself on the penalty kill this often they better be able to execute and Cleveland did for the most part. Cleveland’s penalty kill ranks the best in the AHL North Division and they were able to stifle the second-best power play team in the division.
Fix-Wolansky on the power play
There is just something when it comes to Trey Fix-Wolansky and power play goals. Fix-Wolansky has scored on the power play 3 times in the past four games. While only 1 of these goals came against Utica, it is still worth mentioning that the power play has been a great friend to Trey Fix- Wolansky in recent games.
When speaking of Fix-Wolansky, Mike Eaves said that “he’s got to play like a little angry bowling ball for him to be effective”. This is quite a compliment from the Monsters coach. Fix-Wolansky seems to be very comfortable in these situations and it seems that Eaves trusts him when the team is on the power play. Moving forward it would be in the best interests of everyone to set things up for Fix-Wolansky in these situations.
Thiessen Time
Brad Thiessen doesn’t get the start often, but the Monsters called upon him to step up big time and that’s just what he did. Thiessen got the start in net Saturday and 26 of 28 shots on goal. His performance was crucial to the Monsters salvaging a victory against the Comets this weekend. How frequently Thiessen plays in the future depends on the performance of Veini Vehvilainen and how long Matiss Kivlenieks stays with the Blue Jackets.
Matteau Magic
Stefan Matteau was heavily involved Saturday, totaling 2 points ( 1 goal, 1 assist) and earned First Star honors after the game. Matteau was a catalyst and helped propel the Monsters to a much needed win. Matteau stated that it was about “Good players making good plays” and while he was complimenting Marko Dano and Trey Fix-Wolansky, this applies to Matteau as well.
