Milwaukee Admirals begin 2020 with OT loss to Cleveland Monsters

CLEVELAND -- Stefan Matteau’s goal with 2:06 remaining in overtime delivered the Cleveland Monsters a 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Admirals in the first of two weekend games at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Friday night.

The Admirals rallied late in regulation to earn their AHL-best 54th point in 35 games when Anthony Richard scored at 18:05 of the third period to tie the game at 2-2. After missing on a scoring chance, Daniel Carr chased the puck to the opposite left-wing wall and dug it out to Rem Pitlick, who found Richard in the right circle for his 11th goal of the season.

Trailing 1-0 in the second period, the Admirals evened the game when Matt Donovan’s power-play goal tied the score at the 13:47 mark. Donovan, who hit a post earlier in the second period behind Cleveland's goaltender Veini Vehvilainen, got open in the left circle and sent a slapshot past Vehvilainen to tie the game and give the Admirals their fifth power-play goal in as many games. Milwaukee entered the night with the league’s best unit at 26.5 percent. The goal was Donovan’s third of the year.

In overtime, the Admirals outshot the Monsters 4-1, generating a pair of quality scoring chances early in the 3-on-3 session.

Anton Karlsson (2nd) and Sam Vigneault (6th) scored go-ahead goals in the first and third periods for the Monsters.

2020 AHL All-Star netminder Connor Ingram made 22 saves on 25 shots for the Admirals, including 11 saves in the second period. Milwaukee outshot Cleveland 30-25, and went 1-for-6 on the power play.

The teams resume their two-game weekend series on Saturday at noon CT.