MONSTERS CAP REGULAR SEASON WITH 6-4 VICTORY OVER GRIFFINS
| Final | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
The Cleveland Monsters beat the Grand Rapids Griffins (51-16-4-1) 6-4 on Sunday afternoon at Rocket Arena. With the win, the Monsters are now 37-26-6-3 and finish the regular season in third place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
Cleveland’s Mikael Pyyhtiä got the scoring started with a short-handed marker at 2:26 in the first assisted by Stanislav Svozil but Grand Rapids’ Dylan James responded with a tally of his own at 4:33 to make the score 1-1 going into the second. Griffins’ Dylan James opened the middle frame with a goal at 0:21 followed by an additional tally from Jesse Kiiskinen at 4:45 to put Grand Rapids up 3-1. Monsters’ Pyyhtiä captured his second of the night at 7:57 while on the man-advantage with helpers from Luca Del Bel Belluz and Jack Williams followed by a goal from Justin Pearson at 10:17 off assists from Hudson Fasching and Svozil to level the score, but Griffins’ Alex Doucet notched a tally at 14:28, giving Grand Rapids a 4-3 lead through 40 minutes. Cleveland tied the game at 7:09 of the final frame when Luca Pinelli scored thanks to helpers from Brendan Gaunce and Will Butcher before veteran forward Zach Aston-Reese notched the game-winning strike at 13:29 of the the third on feeds from Pinelli and Corson Ceulemans. An unassisted empty-net score from Gaunce at 18:12 sealed a 6-4 win for Cleveland.
Cleveland’s Zach Sawchenko stopped 3 shots and Ivan Fedotov stopped 11 shots for the win while Grand Rapids’ Sebastian Cossa made 19 saves and Trey Augustine made 10 saves in defeat.
The Monsters begin their 2026 Calder Cup Playoff bid against the Syracuse Crunch on Friday, April 24th at Rocket Arena. Follow the game with full coverage on Rock Entertainment Sports Network, SportsRadio 99.1 Powered by Rock Entertainment Group, 1390 The Gambler WNIO-AM, AHLTV on FloHockey and the Monsters Hockey Network.
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Shots/Special Teams:
| Shots | PP | PK | PIM |
CLE | 35 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 19 min / 4 inf |
GR | 18 | 0/1 | 1/2 | 6 min / 3 inf |
Goaltenders:
| Goaltender | Outcome | Saves | GA | Record |
CLE | Sawchenko | - | 3 | 3 | 14-10-3 |
CLE | Fedotov | W | 11 | 1 | 23-16-6 |
GR | Cossa | - | 19 | 3 | 26-8-4 |
GR | Augustine | L | 10 | 2 | 0-2-0 |
Cleveland Record: 37-26-6-3, 3rd North Division
Grand Rapids Record: 51-16-4-1, 1st Central Division
GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*
*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.
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