CLEVELAND – Nick Merkley had three points and Gilles Senn stopped all 22 shots he faced as the Binghamton Devils shutout the Cleveland Monsters, 4-0, in front of 8,334 from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Sunday afternoon.
Binghamton broke the ice with 3:43 left in the first period to take a 1-0 lead. Nick Merkley set up Brett Seney in front of the net and he tipped the puck up and over the right shoulder of goaltender Veini Vehvilainen. The goal was Seney’s team-leading 16th of the year from Merkley and Ben Street and the Devils took the one-goal lead into the intermission and a 13-5 shot advantage.
Merkley scored his 10th of the year just 4:19 into the second period from the goal line, unassisted. Merkley chased down the puck in the right corner and immediately fired it off of Monsters defenseman Adam Clendening in front of the crease and into the net for a 2-0 lead.
Josh Jacobs put home his fifth goal of the year off a great feed by Merkley from the left wall. Merkley took a Street pass and immediately sent it to Jacobs who slid a shot by the leg pad of Vehvilainen for a 3-0 lead. The goal came at 13:01 of the second period with assists from Merkley and Street and the Devils had a three-goal lead to start the third.
Egor Sharangovich added to the lead early in the third period. From the side of the net, Sharangovich pulled the puck out of a scrum and fired it off the side of Vehvilainen and into the net for his fifth of the year. The goal gave the Devils a 4-0 lead with the lone assist going to Fabian Zetterlund.
Gilles Senn stopped all 22 shots he faced to collect his first American Hockey League shutout while Vehvilainen put away 38 of 42 in the loss.
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