Monsters try to keep playoff hopes alive

THE SCORE MONSTERS 4, WOLVES 1

Jeff Schudel was at Quicken Loans Arena as the reigning Calder Cup champion Monsters attempted to keep their playoff hopes alive as they welcomed Chicago. Check out Schudel’s full recap.

Once the Monsters get the first period out of the way, they get down to business and then good things follow.

The Monsters trailed the Chicago Wolves, 1-0, after 20 minutes March 21, tied it with a power play goal by Markus Hannikainen in the second period and then scored three times in the third to skate off the Quicken Loans Arena ice with a 4-1 victory.

The Monsters trailed the Texas Stars, 3-0, after the first period March 18 and scored six unanswered goals.

Ryan Craig got the gamewinner against the Stars and broke the 1-1 tie with Chicago when he snapped in his own rebound over the left pad of Wolves goalie Ville Husso at 5:01 of the third period.

The Monsters (29-27-3-4) picked up two points on the Iowa Wild, who lost, 1-0, to Charlotte on March 21. The Monsters have to leap past Charlotte and Iowa to move into fourth place in the Central Division to earn a playoff spot.

“Whoever wants to get (the game-winning goal) can have it,” Craig said afterward. “Another big win. We’re back at home where we’re real comfortable playing. We’ve had some big games here, but there’s still a lot of work to do.

“We took care of business tonight. They’ll be ready to go tomorrow, and so will we.”

The Monsters and Wolves meet again at 7 p.m. March 22 at The Q.

Craig’s goal, his ninth of the season, was the only even-strength goal of the night for the Monsters. They scored twice on the power play and once shorthanded on a shot by T.J. Tynan from the faceoff dot on the right circle.

Tynan took a pass from Justin Scott, and Scott skated down the slot toward the net. Tynan, more of a passer than a goal scorer, looked to his left as though he would pass the puck to Scott, but instead fired a perfect shot over Husso’s left shoulder for a 3-1 lead at 7:34 of the third. Scott sealed it with a power play goal at 17:03 on a shot from low in the left circle.

“That’s the first time all year we got something like that,” said Coach John Madden, referring to the special teams goals. “We got some production out of our power play and our P.K. was really good tonight.

“I’m sure (the Wolves) will make some adjustments for tomorrow’s game, and we’ll have to be on top of that.”

The Wolves scored on their second shot of the game when Ty Loney scored on a blast through traffic 4:36 into the first period. Monsters goalie Anton Forsberg stopped all 19 shots that followed. The Monsters were a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.