Cleveland, Ohio
After a frustrating night offensively on Thursday, the Monsters decided to unleash on the Syracuse defense Saturday afternoon in front of ten thousand supporters at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Of course the game would not come without some early adversity but it wouldn't last long.
Syracuse came out firing immediately, taking a 1-0 lead with 11:53 to play in the first period. The Crunch celebration brought out some anger in the Monsters. The mood changed along with their body language, playing angry and very aggressive from there on out. Cleveland would tie the game on a Billy Sweezy goal that needed to be reviewed by the AHL in New York but was ultimately upheld, tying the game at 1-1 with 8:32 remaining in the 1st. The Monsters weren't done with the early scoring either.
Hunter McKown wasted no time skating in front of a pass from the Crunch goaltender to chip the puck in for a 2-1 lead. This would become the game winning goal for the Monsters. McKown talked about the play after the game, “I got the puck and I was being closed off in the neutral zone and I just wanted to try to get the red lining and get it in. Their goalie, we know he likes to play the puck a lot, he’s pretty good, so I just pressed up on his option, he happened to mishandle it and it went right to me, I tried to catch him sliding then and put it back short sideline.” This would end things at 2-1 after the 1st period.
After a heated first period, the second would be very tame. With the lead Cleveland was able to settle into their stout playoff defense and keep the action to a minimum with no goals for either team in the second.
The third period was much more like the first. With 15:23 left, a power play goal by defender Jakub Zoboril would make the score 3-1 Cleveland. “Coach put me on power play because it was a tight game at 2-1, they just wanted to get two defensemen over, we wanted to face off, I saw my chance and I just tried to hammer it and it finally went in.”
The fourth and final goal would come from Alex Whelan on a empty net goal with 4:46 left. A risky decision by the Crunch that would benefit the Monsters, earning them the 4-1 victory over Syracuse.
Following the win, head coach Trent Vogelhuber talked about the improvement in his team’s offense in game two compared to game one, “I thought we were quicker to get to the puck and the areas in both ends of the rink. That’s the biggest thing that I talked about last game, I thought they out supported us but I thought we did a better job of skating the pucks, second and third man even at both ends, then you give yourself a chance to win those 50/50 battles.”
Overall, Cleveland clearly played their best game offensively in these Calder Cup Playoffs. The Monsters now take a 2-0 series lead over the Crunch in the north division finals and will hit the road to Syracuse Wednesday night at 7pm.
Photo By Nick Michaels/VSBN
Nick Michaels
VSBN Radio