The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters defeated the Grand Rapids Griffins 5-3 on Wednesday afternoon at Van Andel Arena. With the win, Cleveland’s fifth consecutive victory, the Monsters are now 8-3-0-1 and are currently tied for first place in the AHL’s North Division standings with 17 points.
Grand Rapids got the game started with a goal from Chase Pearson before Chris Terry added a man-advantage tally, but Cleveland responded with two shorthanded markers from Eric Robinson and Stefan Matteau to tie the game.
Brian Lashoff’s third period goal gave the Griffins a temporary lead, but Adam Clendening’s marker brought it back to an even scoreboard.
Zac Dalpe converted on Cleveland’s third shorthanded opportunity to take control of the game followed by Matteau adding an emtpy-net insurance tally to secure the 5-3 win.
Matiss Kivlenieks stopped 23 shots to help provide Cleveland the win while Grand Rapids’ Calvin Pickard made 20 stops in the loss.
