Cleveland Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber thinks that his team has a lot more to give.
They’ll have to show that as they attempt to fend off elimination today in Game 3 against Laval at Place Bell. Cleveland dropped the first two games at home in the best-of-five series. The series winner will face the Rochester Americans in the North Division Finals.
Cleveland scored twice in Game 1 but was shut out in Game 2. In six games against the Rocket this season, the Monsters have totaled seven goals.
“It’s hard to get offense on them,” Vogelhuber said after Friday’s 4-0 loss. “There’s no secret. You just have to work for it. It’s hard, and it hurts.”
Vogelhuber wants more second-chance opportunities from his players.
“That’s where the offense is going to come. You get frustrated because…it doesn’t go in and then you can veer away a little bit. You’ve got to be willing to pay a price to score a goal.”
The Rocket goaltending picture got stronger when the Montreal Canadiens returned Cayden Primeau to Laval yesterday. Primeau had been backing up Jakub Dobeš with the Habs, who were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by Washington earlier this week.
Primeau originally joined the Rocket just after the Christmas break and went 21-2-2 with a 1.96 goals-against average and .927 save percentage, earning a share of the Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award as Laval tied Syracuse for the fewest goals against in the regular season.
Primeau joins rookie Jacob Fowler, who has won Laval’s first two playoff games against Cleveland.
Bears head coach Todd Nelson has a deep list of reserves, and he is making it clear that he is willing to make lineup changes in the team’s series against the Phantoms. After a 3-1 home loss in Game 2, Hershey will need to win at least once at PPL Center to keep its season going.
Defensemen Brad Hunt and Andrew Perrott and forwards Garrett Roe, Brennan Saulnier and Dalton Smith are among the options that Nelson has, along with several prospects who have joined the team in recent weeks.
“We’ll talk about personnel first,” Nelson said after Game 2. “Make some adjustments with that. We’ll talk about it as a staff.”
After they managed just 20 shots and allowed two shorthanded goals in the loss, Nelson said the Phantoms outworked his team.
“We’ll have to look at guys who want to put the work boots on,” said Nelson. “That’s what it comes down to. They (the Phantoms) came in determined right from the drop of the puck. They’re a good hockey team. Make no bones about it. I don’t care where they finished in the standings.”
“We played Phantoms hockey,” head coach Ian Laperriere said after Friday’s Game 2. “And we played Hershey Bears hockey. I’m not ashamed of saying that I’m taking pages out of his (Nelson’s) book.”
Laperriere has often praised how Hershey plays the game and has outlined that his team needs to model itself after the Bears. They did that – and then some – in Game 2. The Phantoms’ size and their willingness to use it frustrated Hershey. Lehigh Valley made smart puck plays and established a playoff style. Moreover, they did it across all three periods.
“We all know jobs have to be done,” said Zayde Wisdom, whose two shorthanded goals in Game 2 sparked the Phantoms, “and those are big moments in the game. If we can get that done, that helps us turn the tide.”
Now the challenge is to keep doing that back on home ice.
“We know what we’re facing,” said Laperriere, before adding with a smile, “the best team for the past 30 years.”
― with files from Patrick Williams
