The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Grand Rapids Griffins 5-3 on Tuesday night at Van Andel Arena. With the loss, the Monsters are now 11-6-1-0 and are currently in second place in the AHL’s Central Division standings.

Cleveland opened the scoring in the first period after Carson Meyer converted on a power play at 6:37 off feeds from Tyler Sikura and Jake Christiansen. Despite the early lead, the Griffins responded with goals from Troy Loggins at 12:52 and Gregor MacLeod at 13:55 to send the Monsters into the first intermission trailing 2-1. Cleveland tied the game at 3:43 of the middle frame following Liam Foudy’s unassisted shorthanded tally and then regained the lead with a man-advantage tally from Dillon Simpson at 13:07 assisted by Tyler Angle and Wyatt Newpower bringing the score to 3-2 after 40 minutes. Grand Rapids grabbed control of the game in the third period with a goal from Dominic Turgeon at 1:21, a power-play marker from Riley Barber at 6:55 and Givani Smith’s empty-net tally at 18:19 moving the final score to 5-3 and snapping the Monsters six-game win streak.

Cleveland’s Daniil Tarasov made 22 saves in defeat while Grand Rapids’ Pat Nagle stopped 19 shots for the victory.

The Monsters once again face the Grand Rapids Griffins on Wednesday, April 21, with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop at Van Andel Arena.  Follow the games with full coverage on FOX Sports 1350AM ‘The Gambler’, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.

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Cleveland Record: 11-6-1-0, 2nd Central Division

Grand Rapids Record: 10-6-3-0, 3rd Central Division

GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*

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