The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters beat the Rochester Americans 4-3 in their first shootout of the season Friday night at Blue Cross Arena. With the win, the Monsters are now 3-2-0-0 and are currently tied for third place in the AHL’s North Division standings with six points.
Following a scoreless first period, Cleveland and Rochester combined for five goals in the middle frame. Stefan Matteau opened the scoring, but Amerks’ Dalton Smith responded 25 seconds later to tie the game. Kevin Stenlund gained the lead back for Cleveland, but Jean-Sebastien Dea and Scott Wilson scored for Rochester to take the 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.
Matteau scored his second goal of the night in the third period on the power play to tie the game 3-3 and forced overtime. Following a battle of the goalies in overtime, the game moved to a shootout in which Nathan Gerbe scored the lone goal to help secure the Monsters 4-3 win. Cleveland’s Matiss Kivlenieks had 28 saves to earn the win while Rochester’s Andrew Hammond stopped 16 shots in the shootout loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.