Wild tames Monsters’ offense in shutout victory

The Monsters’ Christmas wish list is a short one: goals in the first period, goals in the second period and goals in the third period.

Even goals in warmups would be a confidence booster the way this season is going.

The Monsters, the lowest scoring team in the AHL, were tamed by the Iowa Wild, 3-0 on Dec. 18 at The Q.

The Monsters had 34 shots on goal but nothing to show for them on the scoreboard, which is pretty normal for Coach John Madden’s crew. Madden met with players for 15 minutes after the game — much longer than usual — before walking out to address the media. The look on his face was as grim as the final score.

“Groundhog Day,” Madden said. “This is our 24th game and we’ve been shut out in five of them. We’ve had only on goal in seven of them and we generally outshoot the other team. We’re struggling to score goals right now.”

The Monsters, 8-11-3-2, have 50 goals — 23 fewer than any other team in the Central Division.

Falling behind by one goal is a challenge. Falling behind by two or more after two periods is like trying to climb a mountain wearing hockey skates.

Iowa jumped on the board at 15:10 of the first period. Wild right wing Sam Anas stole the puck in front of Monsters goalie Mattiss Kivlenieks and snapped a wrister into the top left corner.

Iowa made it 2-0 on a disputed power-play goal with 34.5 seconds left in the first period. Madden thought the puck hit the netting behind the goal and rolled down the glass back onto the ice before Brennan Menell poked it inside the post to Kivlenieks’ right. The referee didn’t see it that away and after a review awarded the Wild the goal.

“Just shooting for no apparent reason is one thing,” Madden said. “Putting pucks on nets creates rebounds, creates second chances. I don’t think tonight we had a second chance.

“They (Iowa) did a good job protecting the blue paint. At our end there were a lot of scrambles. It’s a lesson learned in that department. Blue paint battles lose you hickey games. We lost some blue paint battles and they won all theirs.

“If that’s going to be the case, it’s on the individual. Until we start scoring goals we have to tighter to our chest.”

Iowa took a 3-0 lead at 15:11 of the second on a rocket from the point by Zach Palmquist.

The Monsters and Iowa meet again at 7 p.m. Dec. 20 at The Q.