Stockton Heat shoot past Monsters, 6-3

“Hit Somebody! Hard!” Monsters fans shout in chorus before the national anthem is sung at home games at Quicken Loans Arena.

Too often, however, and it happened again on Feb. 21, the Monsters fail to heed the advice, give away the space around the crease they are supposed to defend, and consequently end up with another loss.

This time it was the Stockton Heat sinking the Monsters deeper into the Western Conference basement, 6-3, before 5,832 fans at The Q.

“One of our goalies has to come up with a save from time to time,” Monsters coach John Madden said. “I thought they were both fighting it tonight.

“Some guys take pride in (knocking opponents away from the crease). Some guys don’t. We try to create a culture where you play from your net out. It’s an ongoing battle.”

The Monsters are 1728-4-3. No other team in the AHL West has sub.500 record. The team that two years ago won the Calder Cup needs a miraculous turnaround to avoid missing the playoffs for the second straight year.

The Monsters led, 1-0, when Jordan Schroeder scored at 11:33 of the first period on a feed from behind the net by Carter Camper. Two minutes later, Spencer Foo, from the slot on a shot Monsters goalie Mattiss Kivlenieks saw clearly, tied the score, 1-1.

The Monsters never led again. Schroeder’s second goal of the night tied the score 2-2 at 6:08 of the second period, but just 14 seconds later the Heat was back on top. By the end of the second period the Stockton lead was 4-2.

Madden had seen enough. He pulled Kivlenieks and inserted Ivan Kulbakov, but it was more of the same. He allowed a soft goal and then the Heat finished off the bludgeoning with an empty-net goal after Joe Pendenza cut the Stockton margin to 5-3 in the third period.

“It’s two games in a row we’ve given up fewer than 20 shots (19 on Feb. 21) and four or five goals go in,” Madden said. “I didn’t think (Kivlenieks) was playing well. I don’t think goals should go in from behind the goal line. It was kind of losing sight of the puck. Just a save once in a while can change the hockey game.”

The Monsters top two goalies, Brad Thiessen and Jeff Zatkoff, are injured. Zatkoff is out with a concussion. Thiessen, out with an unspecified injury, last played on Nov. 30. There is no timetable for his return.

The Monsters and Heat meet again at 7 p.m. Feb. 23 at The Q.