Skid hits three games as Monsters blanked by Wolves, 5-0
Feb. 2—The longest homestand of their season is not going the way the Monsters hoped it would. In fact, they should think about one of those old Southwest Airlines commercials with the theme "Wanna get away?"
The Monsters on Feb. 2 played their sixth game of a 10-game homestand that began Jan. 19 with a 4-2 win over Lehigh Valley. Things have gone downhill from there.
The Chicago Wolves chewed up the Monsters, 5-0, on Groundhog's Day night in front of 9,459 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The crowd was entertained by a handful of fights and roughing skirmishes and not much else.
"That was definitely a bad night," Coach Trent Vogelhuber said. "It wasn't good enough all around. Too many passengers, obviously. Some guys are searching.
"No one feels sorry for you. It's the first time we've lost three in a row all year. You just have to dig in. There's no secret way out of it. Everybody has to work a touch harder. You have to win your 50-50s."
The Monsters have lost four of five games since beating Lehigh Valley. The slump they are in can be traced back to before the long homestand began. They lost two straight before beating the Phantoms on Jan. 19. Home cooking hasn't helped.
"Nobody feels sorry for you," Coach Trent Vogelhuber said Friday after the #Monsters were shut out by the Chicago Wolves. The Monsters have lost three straight games. pic.twitter.com/8yx2hyNpun
— Jeff Schudel (@jsproinsider) February 3, 2024
The loss to the Wolves dropped the Monsters to 25-14-1-1 in the AHL North. Fortunately for them, the Syracuse Crunch lost, 3-1, to the Belleville Senators on Feb. 2. The Monsters and Crunch are tied for first place in the North Division with 52 points. The Monsters have a game in hand.
The game Feb. 2 was scoreless after the first period. The Wolves scored twice in the second period and thee times in the third. The night ended in fighting fashion for the way the Monsters played; Chicago left wing Nathan Sucese scored his third goal of the game with 1:35 to play while the Wolves were short-handed.
The Monsters don't have much time to figure out how to get back their winning ways. They host the Wolves in a rematch at 1 p.m. Feb. 3 at the FieldHouse.
"Systematically, you can't adjust anything," Vogelhuber said. "Players look for something like that sometimes in a situation like this.
"Hockey is a game of one-on-one battles all over the ice. You have to win more than you lose. Right now, we're losing more than we win."
Monsters goalie Jet Greaves stopped 31 of 36 Chicago shots. Wolves goalie Adam Scheel made 28 saves.
