Monsters back-and-forth with comets ends in 7-5 loss

Dec 22, 2022

The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Utica Comets 7-5 on Thursday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. With the loss, the Monsters are now 12-11-1-2 and are currently in fifth place in the AHL’s North Division standings.

 

Cole Fonstad scored his first goal at 2:46 of the opening frame off feeds from Tyler Angle and David Jiricek, but Utica’s Jarrod Gourley responded at 4:58 knotting the game 1-1 after 20 minutes. Cole Clayton started the middle frame with a tally at 4:30 assisted by Emil Bemstrom and Justin Richards but Cleveland’s lead was short-lived after Utica’s Graeme Clarke scored 30 seconds later. The Monsters pushed ahead after Jiricek converted on the man advantage at 6:40 with helpers from Bemstrom and Joona Luoto. Utica’s Reilly Walsh notched a power-play marker at 10:57, but Fonstad picked up his second goal of the night unassisted at 14:24 bringing the score to 4-3 for Cleveland. The Comets closed out the second period with goals from Clarke at 17:19 and Jack Dugan at 18:14 leaving the Monsters trailing 5-4 after 40 minutes. The final frame started with a shorthanded tally from Utica’s Nolan Stevens 19 seconds in before Michael Vukojevic followed with a goal at 5:56. Fonstad completed his bid recording his first professional hat trick at 16:27 assisted by Owen Sillinger and Brandon Davidson but the Monsters fell by a final score of 7-5.

 

Cleveland’s Pavel Cajan made 12 saves in defeat while Utica’s Nico Daws stopped 25 shots for the win.

                                             

With the postponement of Cleveland’s Friday away game in Grand Rapids due to inclement weather (rescheduled for Wednesday, January 4 at Grand Rapids) announced earlier today, the Monsters next game will be against the Charlotte Checkers on Thursday, December 29, with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Follow the games with full coverage on FOX Sports 1350 ‘The Gambler’, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.

 

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Scoring:

	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	SO	Final
CLE	1	3	1	-	-	5
UTC	1	4	2	-	-	7

 

Shots/Special Teams:

	Shots	PP	PK	PIM
CLE	30	1/4	1/2	9 min / 3 inf
UTC	10	1/2	3/4	16 min / 5 inf

 

Goaltenders:

	Goaltender	Outcome	Saves	GA	Record
CLE	Cajan	L	12	7	4-6-1
UTC	Daws	W	25	5	7-6-1

Cleveland Record: 12-11-1-2, 5th North Division

Utica Record: 12-9-3-1, 4th North Division

 

GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*

*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.