Utica rallies in 3rd period to beat Monsters

CLEVELAND — The Utica Comets scored three goals in the final period to defeated the Cleveland Monsters 4-3 on Tuesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Brandon Davidson would break the scoreless tie just 30 second into the second period, as he tailled a goal off feeds from Justin Richards and Emil Bemstrom give Cleveland a 1-0 lead.

Bemstrom added the next two goals, first converting on the power play at 10:50 with assits from Trey Fix-Wolansky and David Jiricek. His second goal came at 12:00 with help from Jiricek and Pavel Cajan, who both got the assists on the play.

Utica got a goal on the power play as Tyce Thompson's shot found the back of the net at 12:09 to cut the Monsters lead to 3-1 in the second period.

The Comets took control in the final period, as Graeme Clarke netted two goals at 1:19 and 13:48, with his second one coming on the power-play to tie the game up at 3.

Samuel Laberge would score the go-ahead goal at 19:45 to ultimately give Utica the 4-3 win.

Cleveland’s Pavel Cajan stopped 37 shots in the loss while Utica’s Akira Schmid turned aside 20 shots for the win.

With the loss, Cleveland is now 12-10-1-2 and currently sit in fourth place in the AHL’s North Division standings.

The Monsters will face Utica again on Thursday, December 22. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Cleveland 0 3 0 = 3

Utica 0 1 3 = 4