Monsters Fall in Shootout Against Phantoms, 4-3

The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (29-33-3-3) 4-3 in a shootout on Sunday afternoon at PPL Center. With the shootout loss, the Monsters are now 35-26-6-3 and are currently in third place in the AHL’s North Division standings.

Cleveland’s Riley Bezeau drew first blood with a goal at 10:21 of the opening frame assisted by Tate Singleton and Hunter McKown while Mikael Pyyhtiä extended the Monsters’ lead with a power-play tally at 18:54 off feeds from Will Butcher and Brendan Gaunce to make it 2-0 Cleveland heading into the second. Lehigh Valley’s Jacob Gaucher scored the only goal of the middle frame at 15:24 bringing the score to 2-1 Cleveland through 40 minutes. The Phantoms’ Boris Katchouk slotted in the equalizer at 7:59 followed by a goal from Noah Powell at 11:50 to put Lehigh Valley up 3-2 but the Monsters’ James Malatesta swooped in with the tying goal at 16:37 with help from Bezeau to send the game into extra time. Following a scoreless overtime period, Lehigh Valley’s Jack Berglund score the game-winning goal in the shootout to give the Phantoms the 4-3 victory. 

Cleveland’s Ivan Fedotov stopped 38 shots in defeat while Lehigh Valley’s Carson Bjarnason made 24 saves for the win.

The Monsters head to New York next to face the Rochester Americans on Friday, April 17th at 7:05 p.m. at Blue Cross Arena. Follow the game with full coverage on 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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Cleveland Record: 35-26-6-3, 3rd North Division

Lehigh Valley Record: 29-33-3-3, 7th Atlantic Division

GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*

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