Cleveland, Ohio
Game three of the eastern conference finals Tuesday night was held at Rocket Mortage Fieldhouse in front of an impressive 14,675 crowd, unfortunately the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears would end up spoiling the Monsters homecoming. As fans exited the arena, they realized their beloved team was facing a 3-0 deficit in the best of seven series.
After starting strong in the first period, Cleveland was playing very physical and also well defensively however, emotions would get the best of them during the second period. On a night where the Monsters were on the penalty kill six times, the Bears would make them pay for it scoring on three of those penalties, making this the deciding factor in Tuesday’s letdown. The Monsters would score their two lone goals from Alex Whelan and Trey Fix-Wolanksy but giving up 4 goals in the 2nd period would all but seal the deal for Hershey as they would hold on to win 6-2.
After the game, Monster head Coach Trent Vogelhuber talked about the frustration of allowing too many power play opportunities for the Hershey Bears. “18 penalties in 3 games, it’s just too much. With four minutes to play in the second, we just got in our own way there in the end, taking penalties you shouldn’t and so the confidence moving forward shouldn’t be an issue, you just have to execute the plan and not veir off, it’s just disappointing, I hated our third period too, we have to regroup.”
The Monsters now will have a quick turnaround for Thursday’s game as they host game four. Cleveland will try to avoid getting swept by a team they swept to win the Calder Cup back in 2016. The puck drops at 7pm at Rocket Morgage Fieldhouse.
Nick Michaels
VSBN Radio
Photo By Nick Michaels/VSBN
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