Red-hot Monsters win sixth straight

It’s a good sign for a hockey team when it doesn’t play anywhere near its best game but still finds a way to win the game.

THE SCORE MONSTERS 6, AMERICANS 3

The Monsters skated into Rocket Mortgage House on April 17 riding a five-game winning and once again prepared to meet the Rochester Americans — victims in three of the last four games in the streak.

The streak is now at six after knocking off the Americans, 6-3, in a matinee affair before a COVIDrestricted capacity crowd of 4,148 fans The Monsters, losers of four of their first five games to start the season (one loss was in overtime) are 10-2 since then.

“We were very disappointed in our start (April 17),” Coach Mike Eaves said after the game. “We didn’t play to who we were in the first period.

“They (the Americans) are a team that has great pride. They don’t like to lose. They came out and battled. We didn’t have our A-game. But I think the sign of any good athlete or good team is when you don’t have your Agame, you find a way to get it done. The bottom line is we found a way to manufacture ourselves and find a way to win the game.”

Remi Elie scored 26 seconds into the game to give Rochester a quick lead. The Monsters put only three shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, but one credited to Luke Moncada that actually bounced off his chest found the back of the net to tie the game at 6:34 of the first frame.

The Monsters never trailed again. Tyler Angle scored his sixth goal of the season at 6:35 of the second period and then Zach Jordan made it 3-1 about eight minutes later.

Rochester cut the lead to 3-2 and then sliced a 4-2 lead to one goal midway through the third period, but the Monsters finished the day by taking a 5-3 lead when Thomas Schemitsch threaded a shot from about 15 feet outside the right circle with 6:32 remaining. Wyatt Newpower scored on an empty net with 59 seconds left to make the victory look easier than it was.

Goalie Matiss Kivlenieks kept the Monsters in the game with acrobatic saves until the offense got untracked. He finished with 28 stops.

“There were some double-Grade A scoring chances we gave up that Kivvy was outstanding,” Eaves said. “They might have tied the game up if he hadn’t made those saves. He was a big piece of what happened on the ice tonight, as goalies usually are. We have to tip our cap to Kivvy.”

The Monsters will get a chance to extend their winning streak on April 20 and 21 with road games in Grand Rapids.