Milwaukee Admirals fall to Cleveland Monsters 5-4

CLEVELAND -- Two even-strength goals in the final four minutes of regulation helped the Cleveland Monsters turn back the Milwaukee Admirals in a 5-4 win at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 4.

Trailing the Admirals 4-3 after Rem Pitlick’s power-play goal at 10:15 of the third period, the Monsters got a pair of late goals to win for the second straight game. Dillon Simpson fired a shot from the left point and through a screen at 16:22 to tie the game, and Adam Clendening’s point shot through traffic on the right side at 18:16 lifted the Monsters to the victory. Simpson had a goal and three assists for Cleveland.

Daniel Carr and Frederick Gaudreau had multi-point games with a goal and an assist each for the Admirals. Carr got the scoring started at 16:04 of the first period with his 13th goal of the season, while Gaudreau gave the Admirals a 3-2 lead through two periods on his shorthanded breakaway goal with 11 seconds left in the period.

Anthony Richard scored his second goal in as many games, a power-play tally with two minutes left in the second period to tie the game at 2-2. Milwaukee was 2-for-3 on the power play, scoring with the man advantage for the sixth straight game.

The loss was just the sixth in regulation this season for the AHL-leading Admirals.