The Cleveland Monsters lost all three of their games this past weekend on the road in Grand Rapids, Rockford, and Chicago.
Coming into this past weekend the slate for the Cleveland Monsters appeared to be brutal. Three games in three nights in three different cities. Not a recipe for success. Cleveland lost all three games and only came away with a single point in Sunday’s overtime loss to Chicago.
The uninspiring trend of being on the wrong side in the shots on goal department continues.
In their first game Grand Rapids finished with 33 shots on goal compared to Cleveland’s 21. Cleveland managed two more shots on goal than Rockford in Game 2 (28-26), but that did not factor into the 4-1 final score in favor of the IceHogs. Sunday’s game saw Chicago shooting on goal 37 times, six more times than Cleveland. Four of those attempts for the Wolves came in overtime while the Monsters only managed one shot in the extra period.
Cleveland’s opponents had 96 shots on goal while they only managed 80. While it can sometimes be about quality over quantity, neither mattered all that much on the road.
What power play?
The Monsters found themselves on the power play six times this past weekend and failed to score a goal on any of those chances. Cleveland’s power play unit has not been stellar this season and does not seem to be getting any better. This is a huge reason why Cleveland struggles to score at times. Failing to score when given an opportunity like this is a must and they just seem unable to convert.
Penalty kill is still fantastic
Cleveland allowed one goal in 11 chances while on the penalty kill. This was better than their season average of successful penalty kills (84.7%). The penalty kill of the Monsters has been one of the best in the AHL this season and seeing that trend continue is encouraging to see.
Goaltending issues
Veini Vehvilainen started two of their games this past weekend and allowed three goals in each game. This is nearly half a goal higher than his season goals against average of 2.55. Two additional goals were scored against Cleveland in games started by Vehvilainen, but they were empty netters.
Brad Thiessen started in Saturday’s loss to Rockford. Thiessen also allowed three goals with another being scored on an empty net.
The new guy scores
Recently signed Branden Troock scored his first goal with the Monsters in Sunday’s loss to Chicago. Troock was signed to a PTO February 15th. It is great to see the new guy helping the team get on the scoreboard, even in a losing effort.
Speaking of Kole Sherwood
Kole Sherwood was recalled by the Columbus Blue Jackets due to the injury to Cam Atkinson. Columbus needed the help with Atkinson going down and being unable to turn to London’s Liam Foudy. The Blue Jackets will most likely turn to Foudy again, putting a question mark on just how long Sherwood will stay with Columbus this time around.
Calvin Thurkauf scores not once, but twice
What’s better than scoring once? Scoring twice! That is just what Calvin Thurkauf was able to accomplish. Thurkauf was the only Monsters player to score more than once this past weekend. Although not a whole lot of scoring went on for Cleveland during their three losses.
