The Cleveland Monsters beat the Milwaukee Admirals (29-28-4-3) 6-3 on Friday evening at Rocket Arena. With the win, the Monsters are now 34-25-6-1, are currently in third place in the AHL’s North Division standings and qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs for a team-record third consecutive season.
Cleveland’s James Malatesta got the scoring started early in the first with a goal at 1:25 off feeds from Luca Marrelli and Will Butcher to give the Monsters a 1-0 lead. After a slow start to the second period, the Monsters put up three in quick succession with a goal from Hudson Fasching at 9:40 assisted by Jack Williams and Justin Pearson and unassisted tallies from Roman Ahcan at 11:22 and Brendan Gaunce at 16:03. Milwaukee’s Massimo Rizzo got the Admirals on the board with a marker at 19:44 to make it 4-1 Monsters heading into the final frame. The Admirals’ Jake Lucchini tacked on another at 2:48 of the third but the Pearson responded with one of his own at 4:58 with helpers from Owen Sillinger and Guillaume Richard and Malatesta earned his second of the night at 8:57 off feeds from Dysin Mayo and Tate Singleton. Milwaukee’s Zack Hayes got one more for the Admirals at 17:33 but the Monsters finished with the 6-3 victory.
Cleveland’s Zach Sawchenko stopped 23 shots for the win while Milwaukee’s Matthew Murray made 26 saves in defeat.
