Monsters blank Belleville at The Q

The Monsters were in a feisty mood March 8 and so were the 10,207 inside Quicken Loans Arena. By the end of the night both groups were smiling. Cleveland blanked the Belleville Senators, 4-0, behind stellar goaltending by Brad Thiessen, opportunistic scoring by Brad Letestu and Kole Sherwood and the kind of hard checking that gave notice the Monsters are not going to be pushed around as they fight for a playoff spot in the AHL North. Thiessen, 6-4-1 on the season, made his 7,000 career save late in the third period. Less than two minutes into the second period, Belleville winger Darren Archibald left his feet and leveled Monsters defenseman Adam Clendening with a vicious hit just below Clendening’s chin near center ice. No penalty was called. Clendening did not return. It was only a matter of time until the Monsters’ best fighter, Brett Gallant, sought revenge. Sure enough, with 6:16 left in period, Gallant dropped the gloves and pounded Archibald in a fight. The crowd roared and Monsters players on the bench showed their approval by hitting the boards in front of them with their sticks. Six seconds later, after Gallant and Archibald were sent off for fighting, Letestu finished the sequence by scoring his second goal of the game for a 3-0 Monsters lead. Dan DeSalvo passed the puck from behind the net to Letestu on top of the crease and Letestu snapped it past the glove of Senators’ goalie Marcus Hogberg. Letestu’s first goal gave the Monsters a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the first period. Sherwood used his long reach to lift a backhand into the right side of the net at 5:27 of the first period. “The team played really well,” Monsters coach John Madden said. “It’s that time of year where you have to stick together and not be fragile out there and play the game the right way. We managed the game right and didn’t give them much.” The Monsters beat the Senators, 2-1, on March 7 with Jean-Francois Berube in net. The back-to-back victories closed the gap between the Monsters (2925-6-1) and fifth place Senators to two points in the standings. The Monsters are trying to catch fourthplace Utica for the final playoff spot in the division.