The Cleveland Monsters tune up for the Calder Cup Playoffs when they visit the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this Saturday in the FloHockey AHL Game of the Week (6:00 p.m. ET).
Cleveland (35-25-5-6) locked up a North Division playoff berth Friday night despite a 7-3 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Monsters, who reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last spring, will take the North Division fifth seed and face the Toronto Marlies in a best-of-three first-round series next week. The series winner will meet the Laval Rocket. With the parent Columbus Blue Jackets missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Monsters have also added goaltender Jet Greaves and defenseman Denton Mateychuk.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (39-24-7-1) is still in a battle with the Providence Bruins to determine positioning in the Atlantic Division. Fourth in the division, the Penguins dropped a 4-2 decision on the road to the Hershey Bears on Friday night. Third-place Providence has a two-point lead on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but the Penguins remain alive to claim that third-place spot.
The Monsters won a two-game home set against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton two weeks ago, outscoring the visitors, 10-1.
Saturday, 6:00 p.m. ET* – Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza
Where to Watch: Subscribers can continue to watch via FloHockey.tv or the FloSports app.
Free Streams: Follow the game across FloHockey’s social channels including YouTube, Facebook and X. More details below.
Along with Friday’s defeat, the Monsters also took a 4-1 loss at Rochester this past Wednesday.
The 24-year-old Greaves took on a major role during the Blue Jackets’ late push for a playoff berth and has put himself into contention for a full-time role in Columbus next season. In 11 games with Columbus, he went 7-2-2 | 1.91 | .938. He has also taken a heavy workload with the Monsters and is 21-11-6 | 2.62 | .920. Zach Sawchenko has taken the past two starts and made 27 stops at Lehigh Valley.
Mateychuk, 20, had a sizzling start with the Monsters before sticking with the Blue Jackets in December. Selected in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft, he ended up playing 44 games with Columbus and was 4-9-13. In his 27 games with Cleveland, he had 9-16-25. He still leads all Cleveland defensemen in points even though his last game with the team was Dec. 19.
Trey Fix-Wolansky is tied for ninth in AHL scoring (24-36-60) while fellow veteran producer Rocco Grimaldi has 58 points (17-41-58). Second-year forward Luca Del Bel Belluz has a team-leading 27 goals and is at 53 points.
Cleveland is 19th on the power play (17.9 percent) and 22nd on the penalty kill (80.2 percent).
The Penguins need to win in regulation Saturday night and have Providence to lose in regulation at home to the Bridgeport Islanders. Doing so would leave both Providence and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at 33 regulation wins for the first tiebreaker. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has the advantage in the second tiebreaker, which is overtime and regulation wins (37-36) and would therefore take third place in the division. A fourth-place finish would set up a best-of-three first-round series against Lehigh Valley. Taking the third spot would mean a match-up against the Springfield Thunderbirds.
With Pittsburgh also failing to qualify for the postseason, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton received several top reinforcements Friday. Forwards Ville Koivunen, Joona Koppanen, Vasily Ponomarev, Sam Poulin, and Valtteri Puustinen have all returned from Pittsburgh as has defenseman Filip Král.
Joel Blomqvist had 33 saves in Friday night’s loss. That effort followed a 43-save night in a 3-2 home setback against Providence this past Wednesday night. Blomqvist split his season between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In 15 NHL games, he went 4-9-1 | 3.81 | .885. He also played 18 AHL games and was 8-7-3 | 2.84 | .914.
Mac Hollowell leads all Penguins defensemen with 1-30-31. Král is second at 7-22-29.
Koivunen, Emil Bemström, Avery Hayes, and Boris Katchouk all have crossed the 20-goal mark this season. With 21-34-55, he leads Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in scoring and also earned a spot on the AHL All-Rookie Team this week. He also had seven assists in eight games with Pittsburgh.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s power play is fifth in the AHL at 21.4 percent. Their penalty kill ranks 13th (82.8 percent).
On Saturdays throughout the season, the AHL and FloHockey will present a free Game of the Week on YouTube. The home team’s broadcast will be shared as a free stream on FloHockey’s YouTube page. The free broadcast will begin shortly before puck drop. Check FloHockey and AHL social channels to see which game will be streaming each week.
WATCH HERE
On Saturdays throughout the season, the AHL and FloHockey will present a free Game of the Week on X (formerly known as Twitter). The home team’s broadcast will be shared as a free stream on FloHockey’s Twitter page. The free broadcast will begin shortly before puck drop, posted on FloHockey’s X feed. Check FloHockey and AHL social channels to see which game will be streaming each week.
WATCH HERE
On Saturdays throughout the season, the AHL and FloHockey will present a free Game of the Week on Facebook. You can access the game multiple ways on the Facebook. FloHockey will stream both home and road (if available) broadcasts on its Facebook page. The game can also be found live on the AHL’s Facebook page.
WATCH HERE
The AHL is streaming on FloHockey and the FloSports app. Live games, replays, highlights and breaking news will be on both platforms.
The best and most complete coverage of the NHL minor league hockey, and NHL Draft news is found on FloHockey. Don’t miss the latest new prospect guides, rankings and more from Chris Peters and the FloHockey staff.
FloHockey is the streaming home to some of the best hockey leagues in North America, including the AHL, ECHL, USHL, and more. Check out the broadcast schedule to watch more hockey.
Tags:
Get the most important Hockey stories delivered straight to your inbox.
©2006 – Present FloSports, Inc. All rights reserved.
