AHL's top team, the Hershey Bears, overwhelm Monsters, 6-3
Mar. 22—The two hockey teams that met March 22 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse could easily end up playing for the AHL Eastern Conference championship later this spring.
If that does happen, the Monsters can take comfort knowing they will have a full complement of players in a high-stakes playoff rematch with the Hershey Bears.
The Bears, the only team in the AHL to have already clinched a playoff spot, scored three times in the first period and frustrated the Monsters the rest of the way to skate off the ice 6-3 winners.
The Monsters trailed, 4-1, after two periods, cut the deficit to 4-2 and then 5-3 with 4:16 left in the third period before the Bears sealed it with an empty-net goal with four seconds remaining.
"The guys played hard. We just didn't take care of the puck enough," Coach Trent Vogelhuber said. "Sure, some new guys played together, but we have to have more poise, a little bit more talk, stay a little bit more connected. They just connected the dots way more than us tonight."
The Monsters were in first place in the North Division when play March 22 began. The Bears are first in the Atlantic Division with a 16-point bulge over second-place Providence.
The list of Monsters players now playing for Columbus grew March 21 when the Blue Jackets recalled defenseman David Jiricek. Jiricek joined former Monsters teammates Jake Christiansen, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Brendan Gaunce, Mikael Pyyhtia and Carson Meyer in Columbus.
All six players contributed to the success the Monsters have had this season. The Blue Jackets have the worst record in the NHL East, so Jiricek and the rest will be back with Cleveland when the NHL regular season ends if not sooner. But for now, some of their roster spots with the Monsters are being filled by ECHL players signed to professional tryout contracts.
"Obviously we have a lot of players up, but we have more than enough in our room to win hockey games," Vogelhuber said. "Those players aren't going to be gone forever. We're evaluating and auditioning down the stretch for hopefully a playoff roster."
The Hershey Bears are the most efficient team in the AHL, as their 45-11-0-5 reflects. They don't need any help to win games, but the Monsters helped them anyway.
With the score 1-1 and less than five minutes left in the first period, Monsters defenseman Cole Clayton got into a fight with Hershey center Ryan Hofer. Clayton ripped off Hofer's helmet in the skirmish and connected with a few right fists to the side of Hofer's head, much to the delight of the 11,120 fans in the arena. The downside for the Monsters was the Bears scored twice before the first period ended after Clayton was exiled.
The Bears took a 4-1 lead in the second period when a shot by Hershey's Jimmy Huntington glanced off the stick of Monsters defenseman Billy Sweezy into the top right corner of the Cleveland net.
Alex Whalen, Jake Gaudet and Tyler Angle scored goals for the Monsters, who were outshot, 39-25. Jet Greaves made 33 saves.
The Monsters and Bears meet again at 7 p.m. March 23 at the FieldHouse.
