The Cleveland Monsters will kick off a crucial stretch of four games in seven days at home against the Rochester Americans.
The Cleveland Monsters faced the Rochester Americans twice in the month of January. Cleveland found themselves winning a shootout in Rochester while losing a close game at home in overtime. Now they start a stretch of four games in seven days against the Americans.
Cleveland is coming off a two-game split at home against the Utica Comets. The Monsters had a rough start in the first game, but were able to get things going in Game 2. In their last five contests, Cleveland is averaging 3 goals per game while giving up 2.8. This is quite a narrow differential. Being shutout against Utica last Friday does not help all that much, although scoring 5 goals in back-to-back games against Toronto helps bring things up a bit.
Rochester has won five straight games, this includes their win over the Monsters prior to the All-Star Break. The Americans have four straight wins in regulation, their opponents being Laval, Syracuse, and Binghamton. The average score over their current winning streak is 3.6-2. This is a pretty healthy 1.6 more goals than their opponent.
Taking on Rochester will not be easy, they are on a hot streak and Cleveland has been up and down recently. Cleveland will have to be firing on all cylinders in order to kick off their every other game stretch on the right foot.
