Griffins down Monsters 3-1
BY ANDREW GUARINO
HOCKEY WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Cleveland Monsters 3-1 Saturday evening from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Cleveland's lineup looked identical to the game against Rochester Friday night. The only change was to the third line where Nick Lappin went in for Evan Polei on the left-wing.
The first period was quiet between the two teams. Brad Theissen once again had a very solid first period, stopping all 12 shots he faced. At about the 14-minute mark, one of the Monsters' shots hit the post, which was the closest a team got to scoring all period. Around the same time, new Monsters defenseman Jake Christiansen crushed a Griffin into the boards; once the play concluded, a couple of Griffins had some choice words for him.
The Monsters got a power play goal at 11:28. Zac Dalpe passed the puck to Trey Fix-Wolansky as he entered the zone and skated into the left faceoff circle up to the dot where he fired a wrist shot past Pat Nagle to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead. At 15:08 Grand Rapids answered with a power play goal of their own. Nick Lappin of the Monsters took a hooking penalty, and it took the Griffins all of 14 seconds of the power play to score. Kyle Criscuolo took a hard shot that ricocheted off the end wall on a very odd bounce; it landed on the stick of Evgeny Svechnikov who duked out Brad Thiessen to score, which tied the game at 1.
Grand Rapids took a 2-1 lead just 1:53 into the third period. Riley Barber was behind the Monsters' net, walked the puck to the right side of Brad and turned around, scoring top glove side. Next, the Griffins added an empty net goal by Dominic Turgeon to make it 3-1, which ended up being the final score.
It's not that Cleveland played bad tonight. They had a lot of shots, but the Griffins blocked a lot of shots too. As Coach Eaves put it, "the Griffins have guys that eat pucks for breakfast," which is true as Grand Rapids' blocking is so successful partially because they pack guys in the slot to block the opponents' shots. Another noticeable difference was the play of Monsters netminder Brad Thiessen. Coach Eaves said, "I think it was just a matter of Brad getting a game under his belt. His movements were more under control." Something noticeable so far this year is the lack of new guy production. The Monsters have four goals this year - Ryan Maclnnis, Nathan Gerbe, Trey Fix-Wolansky and Zac Dalpe, all Monster veterans. When asked about new guy production, Eaves said, "I think the more games the guys get under their belt, it'll help. With so many new guys, we need them to score, it'll be uplifting for them and uplifting for the team."
Following up on keys to the game:1. Do not let Grand Rapids control the pace of play for the first minute or so of the periods. Cleveland did a great job of this. 2. Keep guys out of the crease. Grand Rapids was in the crease more than Rochester was. However, Cleveland was sure not to let them get in Brad's way. 3. Take advantage of opportunities. Cleveland did this, scoring on the one power play they had. The Monsters also had two shorthanded breakaways, but they did not translate into goals.
The Griffins started Pat Nagle in the net; he stopped 26/27 of shots faced. The Monsters countered with Brad Thiessen; he stopped 28/30 of shots faced. The first star went to Riley Barber with a goal and an assist, the second star went to Evgeny Svechnikov with a goal, and the third star went to Trey Fix-Wolansky with a goal.
My player to watch for the next game is Trey Fix-Wolansky. Trey looks so much faster than he did last season. Not only has his speed greatly improved over the summer, but his hockey smarts have too. He made plenty of smart decisions and was in the perfect position to score the power play goal he did.
Next up for Cleveland is a rematch with the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday, February 20th, from Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with puck drop set for 4 pm. Let's look at keys to the game. 1. We need to apply pressure against the Griffins more frequently. Cleveland had several rushes where they would put pressure on the Griffins but could not sustain any significant zone time. 2. We need to play more physical. For the first meeting between these two teams in over a year, it was a fairly physical game. Grand Rapids brought more of the physicality than the Monsters did - something we will look to change next Saturday. 3. Create screens down by the crease. We need to get bodies in front and create screens to make it harder for the Griffins' goaltender to see the puck.
POSTED 02/13/2021 20:07
Lake County Sentinel
