Monsters earn big win over Barracuda THE SCORE

There was one problem after the Monsters crushed the San Jose Barracuda, 4-1, in an Oct. 21 matinee at Quicken Loans Arena — picking the three stars of the game.

It was a problem because at least a half-dozen players were worthy. In the end, the recognition went to defenseman John Ramage with one goal and a plus-three rating as the first star, left wing Tyler Motte with two assists and an empty-net goal as the second star and goalie Brad Thiessen with 18 saves as the third star.

“I was extremely proud of a lot of guys,” Monsters coach John Madden said. “There were no passengers tonight. Every man competed. I thought we started a little tentative in the third period, but then the guys got back into it and started playing hockey again.”

The Monsters (2-2) host the Barracuda in Game 2 of the brief series at 5 p.m. Oct. 22 at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Monsters scored 35 seconds into the game. Motte sent a pass to Markus Hannikainen at the offensive blue line. Hannikainen won the puck in a battle with a San Jose player and made a tape-to-tape pass to Carter Camper on the right side. Camper, a Rocky River native, snapped the puck into the top left corner of the net from the right faceoff circle for his second goal of the season.

But more than offensive success made it a complete game victory.

Near the midpoint of the first period, with the Monsters leading 1-0, a shot by a San Jose player hit Monsters center Alex Broadhurst squarely on the left knee. Broadhurst, favoring the injured leg noticeably, waited until the Monsters gained control of the puck before starting to skate toward the Monsters bench. MONSTERS 4, BARRACUDA 1

Before he could take a full stride, Barracuda left wing Rudolf Balfers intercepted a pass at the Monsters defensive blue line.

Balfers skated into the Monsters defensive zone and Broadhurst went to the ice in the left faceoff circle to either block the shot or make Balfers alter his target. Only when the puck went off the netting behind the goal and play stopped did Broadhurst head to the bench. He could not put weight on his left leg and needed help from two teammates.

“That’s how you win games,” Madden said. “All the guys basically gave him a standing-O on the bench, but that’s what it takes. You have to get out of your comfort zone once in a while, and that was out of his comfort zone, but he did what he had to do. I was proud of him.”

The Monsters made it 2-0 at 12:56 of the second period when Ramage, skating from the right circle to the inside edge of the left circle with the puck on his blade, wristed a low show shot past the stick side of San Jose goalie Try Grosenick. Ramage had only four goals all of last season.

Even the Monsters’ power play showed signs of improvement. They were 1-of-17 with a man advantage through the first three games. They had seven power-play chances against the Barracuda (one lasted only five seconds because the Monsters drew a penalty five seconds after a power play began) and cashed in once when Mike Koules gained control of a loose puck and put it into the back of the net for a 3-1 lead at 8:25 of the third period.

Motte added his emptynet goal with 53 seconds left.

The Monsters were three-for-three killing penalties.