Monsters still looking awesome

The name may be slightly different, but it sure looks like the same old Monsters after the opening weekend of the American Hockey League.

All six Midwest-based teams were in action on the first weekend, including the former Lake Erie Monsters, no known as the Cleveland Monsters.

The Cleveland crew opened the regular season Friday night with a final celebration of last season’s Calder Cup Championship, followed by a 2-1 Friday and 3-1 win Saturday against the visiting Rockford Ice Hogs.

The Milwaukee Admirals who finished first in the Central Division last season also looked impressive in busting out of the gate with back to back wins at San Antonio against the host Rampage. After opening the season with a 2-1 win Saturday night, the Ads made it a sweep with another 2-1 edge on Sunday.

The Grand Rapids Griffins also swept an opening series against the visiting Chicago Wolves, taking a 3-1 decision on Friday night at the Van Andel Arena and wrapping it up with a 4-2 margin on Saturday at the Allstate Arena in Chicago.

Meanwhile, the Iowa Wild earned a split in its opening pair at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, falling to the Manitoba Moose 3-1 on Friday night, but rebounding to defeat the same Moose squad 3-2 in a shootout 24 hours later.

Ice Hogs 1, 1 at Monsters 2, 3

Anton Forsberg was nearly unbeatable in goal for the Monsters in the playoffs last season and not much has changed as he handled 24 of 25 Rockford Ice Hogs shots to earn the win in the season and home opener.

After a scoreless first period it was Sonny Milano pulling the trigger for the Monsters for the lone middle period marker and Alex Broadhurst doubled the margin with his goal in the opening minute of the third.’

Popular IceHogs forward Tanner Kero fired the only shot to beat Forsberg just 2:24 from the final buzzer, but the Monsters held on for the 2-1 victory.

Lars Johansson, a 29-year-old veteran of the Swedish Elite Hockey League, made his debut in goal for the Ice Hogs, turning aside 26 of 28 Monsters shots.

The following night the Monsters grabbed an earlier lead, Aaron Pulashaj putting them up with the lone goal of the first period. T.J. Tynan added another 6:20 into the middle frame with Nick Moutrey making it a 3-0 cushion with five minutes to go in the session.

Jeremy Langlois finally found an opening for the IceHogs 93 seconds from the end of the second, but that was as close as the visitors would get as Forsberg again stopped all but one of the 27 Rockford shots. Mac Carruth got the call in goal for the IceHogs handling 19 of 22.

The IceHogs will remain on the road, next playing on Friday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids on Friday (Oct. 21) with the Monsters following them to Michigan for a game in Grand Rapids the following night. The Ice Hogs will finally get a home contest at the BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford when they entertain the Milwaukee Admirals on Saturday night before getting a rematch against the Monsters on Sunday afternoon.

Griffins 3, 4 Wolves 1, 2

The Griffins and Wolves entered the season with a home and home set that saw the Detroit Red Wings’ farm club coming out on top in both.

In the first game, Mitch Callahan opened and closed the scoring for the host Griffs, scoring the lone goal of the first and third periods, the final one with just 18 ticks on the clock, a powerplay marker into an empty Wolves’ goal.

In the middle period Anthony Mantha notched his first to give the home team a 2-0 lead before Brett Sterling struck back for the Wolves late in the period for the only shot of 28 taken that would elude Griffins goaltender Jared Coreau.

At the opposite end, Jordan Binnington turned in a solid effort as well, handling 31 of 33 Griffins chances.

The following night in Chicago, the Griffs again took control in the opening period with unanswered goals from Mantha and Robbie Russo. Matt Lorito notched his first to widen the gap for the Griffins 8:05 into the middle period.

Vince Dunn and Ivan Barbashev scored six minutes apart to get the Wolves within one by the end of the middle period, but Coreau again shut the Wolves down in the stretch to hold on for the win, which was cemented by Evgeny Svechnikov‘s goal with 4:09 to play.

Ville Husso, a 21-year-old Finnish netminder made his debut with the St. Louis Blues’ organization, handling 24 of 28 shots in goal for the Wolves.

The Griffins are scheduled to be right back in action Tuesday (Oct. 18), making the trip to Des Moines to play the Iowa Stars and then host both the Rockford Ice Hogs and Cleveland Monsters on the weekend. The Wolves will entertain the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday night.

Moose 3, 2 at Wld1, 3

The Manitoba Moose and Iowa Wild battled each other at the bottom of the Central Division standings last season and both would like to move up this season.

First though they had to get by each other and they came away with a split in Des Moines on the weekend.

In the first game, teams battled through a scoreless opening period, despite a 13-6 edge in shots for the host Wild.

It was actually the Moose on the board first, Nelson Nogier finding the mesh in the third minute of the middle period. Gustav Olofsson responded for the Wild at the 8:51 mark, only to have Quinton Howden put the Moose in front to stay late in the period.

An insurance goal from Jack Roslovic clinched the win with five minutes to play and Eric Comrie picked up the win in goal with a 28-save effort.

Alex Stalock turned aside 20 of 23 in goal for the Wild.

The hosts flipped the script the following night, pulling out the win in a shootout.

Howden notched his second to open the scoring 4:25 into the second period of this one, but the lead lasted just 63 seconds before Zack Mitchell hit the equalizer for the Wild.

Teams carried the 1-1 draw into the final period, Howden hitting the mark again at 4:30 but the Wild responding quickly again, this time Sam Anas pulling the trigger 2:33 later.

Ondrej Pavelec of the Moose and Steve Michalek for the Wild matched each other the rest of the way, Pavelec stopping 35 and Michalek 32 to ultimately send the game to shootout.

Michalek stopped all of the four penalty shots he faced at the end, Alex Tuch finally ending it with his fourth round marker for the Wild.

The Wild will stay at home for another test Tuesday (Oct. 18) as the Grand Rapids Griffins pay a visit.

Admirals 2, 2 Rampage 1, 1

Last season, the Admirals opened the campaign with a tough trip to the west coast. This season, the team opened on the road again, but in glorious fashion with a four-point trip to Texas.

The Ads started a day after the rest of the Midwest squads, grabbing a 2-1 edge in both games played at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

The opening game saw one goal each period with the Admirals getting markers from Pontus Aberg in the opening session and the game winner from Vladislav Kamenev 8:38 into the third. In between A.J. Greer fired the only shot to get by Juuse Saros in goal for the Admirals on 23 chances with a little more than six minutes to play in the second.

Jeremy Smith handled 20 of 22 shots in goal for the Rampage.

The following afternoon teams followed the exact same pattern as Justin Florek opened the scoring for Milwaukee with the lone goal in the first before Rocco Grimaldi tied it with the only shot of 30 to beat Saros 5:05 into the second.

The game winner this time came from Adam Payerl with 7:58 to play in the contest.

Martin Spencer turned aside 19 of 21 for the Rampage.

The Admirals will be back on the road Wednesday night at the Allstate Arena in Chicago to play the Wolves and then play in Rockford on Saturday. The Admirals will not play its home opener until Oct. 29, when the Iowa Stars pay a visit to the Panther Arena — new home of the Admirals in Milwaukee.