Griffins Crumble Under Monsters, Lose 4-1

Photo Credit: Nicolas Carrillo

The Grand Rapids Griffins fell to the Cleveland Monsters, 4-1, on Wednesday evening. Eduards Tralmaks scored the Griffins lone goal at the 18:30 mark of the first period when he tipped Ian Mitchell’s shot into the net. This was also one of the last good displays of hockey we saw for the rest of the night.

“I don’t really know if there is much to talk about, to be honest with you,” said Head Coach Dan Watson of the team’s play. “It was our worst performance by far this season.” He expanded upon their performance stating, “We didn’t challenge them at all. We didn’t manage the puck at all. We didn’t defend with any intensity.”

When asked if there were any positives from this game, Coach Watson was quick to say “no”. “Right now, off the top of my head, no positives,” said Coach Watson.

The past week has been perplexing for Coach Watson as he noted, “This is eight periods out of nine that we haven’t been good. So, obviously, that’s a trend. We’ve got to stop it right here, right now.”  He also went on to note that the same thing happened leading up to the All-Star break last season.

While Coach was unable to find many positives, there was one that stuck out to me.

Forward Gabriel Seger let the high emotions of the game feed him instead of distract him. As the intensity and sass heated up between the Monsters and Griffins, Seger turned up the intensity as well, but in a controlled manner. His hits along the boards were heavy and more frequent, but they weren’t erratic or dangerous. The mission was to retrieve the puck and those hits allowed him to complete it.

Despite the loss, Grand Rapids is still the hottest team in AHL history, boasting the best record through 40 games: 32-5-2-1 (67 pts).

They hope to right the ship on Friday night as they take on the Chicago Wolves at 7pm.