The Cleveland Monsters took on the Toronto Marlies looking to win their second consecutive game at home. Cleveland defeated the Marlies by a score of 5-2 Friday night.
Veini Vehvilainen got the start in goal after not playing in Friday’s victory. Matiss Kivlenieks started in place of Vehvilainen Friday, saving 35 of 37 shots.
Ryan Collins, Steve Johnson, Bryan Moore, Justin Scott, Michael Prapavessis, Markus Hannikainen, and Brad Thiessen did not play in the contest.
1st period
The Monsters found themselves on the power play rather quickly. Toronto’s Pontus Aberg was called for cross-checking. Cleveland was not able to make anything out of their power play opportunity as Toroto’s penalty kill was quite effective.
Cleveland found themselves on the power play again with just under 13 minutes remaining in the 1st. Toronto’s Kenny Agostino received a penalty for elbowing. Just like their first power play opportunity, the Monsters were unable to score.
Toronto scored two goals within 30 seconds of each other, Ben Harpur and Nic Petan scoring for the Marlies to give them 2-0 lead.
Cleveland was able to answer with a goal of their own, Derek Barach scoring his fifth goal of the season. Andrew Peeke and Maxime Fortier are credited with assists on Barach’s goal. Tanner MacMaster gave Toronto their two goal lead back 19 seconds later.
All four goals came within one minute of each other. Every shot appeared destined to become a goal. Matiss Kivlenieks came on to replace Veini Vehvilainen after allowing three goals in the 1st period.
Kole Sherwood got the Monsters back within one with his sixth goal of the season. Sherwood’s goal came with 1:01 left in the period. Assisting on the goal were Marko Dano and Ryan MacInnis.
Cleveland had two power play opportunities in the period but failed to score on either. Toronto had the edge in shots (11) compared to Cleveland’s (10) even with the Marlies not having a power play chance in the 1st period.
2nd period
Cleveland and Toronto traded shots back and forth for the first five minutes of the period with neither team scoring. Kevin Stenlund was called for tripping, giving Toronto their first power play opportunity of the game. The Monsters penalty kill was successful as they did not give up a goal. Matiss Kivlenieks kept all three Marlies shot attempts from ending up in the back of the net.
Cleveland’s Sam Vigneault was called for holding with 7:47 remaining in the 2nd, giving Toronto their second power play chance of the period. Just like the previous power play for the Marlies, they did not score.
Cleveland was not at full strength for long as a high sticking call sent Kevin Stenlund to the penalty box. As a result, Toronto was on their third power play of the 2nd period. Cleveland’s penalty kill was successful yet again, preventing the Marlies from extending their lead.
Cleveland did not let Toronto extend their lead in the 2nd period, but they were not able to tie things up either. This is a massive win considering Toronto outshot Cleveland 15-4 and the Marlies have three power play opportunities.
3rd period
After just over nine minutes of trading shots with Toronto, Cleveland found themselves on their first power play since the 1st period. Cleveland finally converted a power play opportunity with Trey Fix-Wolanksy tying things up at 3. Assisted by Paul Bittner and Stefan Matteau.
Kole Sherwood followed with a goal of his own nine seconds later to put Cleveland up 4-3. Andrew Peeke and Calvin Thurkauf receive credit for assists on Sherwood’s goal.
Toronto was back on the power play after Ryan MacInnis was called for cross-checking. Cleveland successfully prevented Toronto from scoring on their power play chance.
With just under five minutes left Kenny Agostino tied the game at 4. This was the first goal Cleveland surrendered since the goalie swap in the 1st period. This goal seemed inevitable. Cleveland did not have control of the situation at hand and were desperately trying to stop Toronto’s attack. The Marlies just seemed to be a step ahead and that led to the game-tying goal.
Things could have gone south at this point. Cleveland found themselves down a man again as Paul Bittner was called for tripping. The Monsters stifled the Marlies power play yet again, Toronto finished 0-5 on power play opportunities in this game.
Things stood tied at 4 as regulation ended and the game headed to overtime. Again, Toronto outshot Cleveland 14-8. The fact that Cleveland outscored Toronto 2 goals to 1 in a period where they were doubled up on shots is quite impressive.
Overtime
The last time the Monsters found themselves in overtime was just a few days ago, Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Rochester. There was not a doubt that Cleveland would want to change their fortunes this time around.
Cleveland found themselves on another power play fairly early in the overtime period. Just 55 seconds in and Cleveland had a 4-on-3 advantage. Cleveland was only able to attempt one shot while they had the advantage, but their second and final shot of the overtime period went in thanks to Stefan Matteau. Assisting on Matteau’s goal were AHL All-Star Adam Clendening and Dillon Simpson.
This was the second straight win for Cleveland over Toronto and they needed it badly. Cleveland now has 46 points on the season and need every point they can get as they are trying to stay out of eighth place in the AHL’s North Division.
