From the Monsters Desk: The Late Push Continues

The beloved Monsters continue their grueling road trip tonight against the Milwaukee Admirals. The teams have met 3 times so far this year with the Monsters creaming them twice at the Q and dropping a 6-5 decision in Wisconsin, combining for a 16-8 goal advantage in all. Vandy and Hish have both scored hat tricks against the Admirals this year. Open the floodgates!

Wednesday night LEM kicked off the roadie against the Chicago Wolves and lost 6-5 in a shootout. The Monsters blew two 2-goal leads including the breakdown in the last few minutes of the game that brought it to OT. After stoning Rochester all last weekend Sami wasn't good at all, especially in the shootout where 4 consecutive shooters blew pucks past him on the glove hand, 2 goals and 2 posts. On the positive side, the Monsters scored 5 even strength goals, tying a season high.

The Good:

Vandy with 2 goals, Elliot, Schumacher and Desbiens also scored

Siemens got another assist, amazing that his offense picks up when paired with Stef

PK was 5/5

The Bad:

Sami wasn't on it, 28/33 in the game and 2/4 in the SO

LEM were shutout in the shootout for 2nd consecutive time

Monsters blew 2 2-goals leads

PP was awful, 0/6 including 0/3 in the 3rd, really could have used another goal...

Boxscore

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Injury/Roster Report: Joey Hishon returned to the lineup on Wednesday and centered the 4th line between Meurs and Maggio. Gabe Beaupre was back in action vs CHI. Luke Moffatt signed an ATO Monday but was scratched against the Wolves.

The Monsters rocket up the chart to 22nd this week in the Hockey Writers AHL Power Rankings!

Prospect ATO Watch:

Mason Geertsen and the Vancouver Giants were eliminated in the WHL playoffs so he is available now

Chris Bigras and Owen Sound face elimination tonight possibly making him available in the near future

I doubt we see either of these guys, but there's always a chance.

Schedule:

Monsters at Admirals Friday night 8:00pm ET, radio on WHKW

Monsters at Wolves Saturday night 8:00pm ET, radio on WHKW

Links:

Team stats

AHL standings - Monsters in 12th, 7 points out with 12 to play

Next up:

Huge week ahead, Tuesday & Saturday at San Antonio, Friday & Sunday at Texas

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Neither game this weekend conflicts with the beloved Avalanche, so support your Monsters down the stretch! I'll have updates here and on twitter as usual.