Playoff rematch pits Crunch versus Monsters

Just over five months after their season ended here in April, the Crunch return to Cleveland to battle the Monsters in a two-game series, starting tonight at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. 
 
The Monsters upset the Crunch in four games in the North Division Semifinals, knocking out Syraucse with a 3-0 Game 4 win April 25. That came after the teams split their four-game regular season series in 2018-19.   
 
Last Time Out
 
The Crunch overcame a pair of one-goal deficits to claim a point, but dropped an overtime decision to the Rochester Americans, 3-2, in the season opener last Friday. 
 
Tage Thompson broke a scoreless tie 38 seconds into the second period to give the Amerks a 1-0 lead. Eight minutes later, Cory Conacher potted the Crunch's first goal of the season to even the score at one. Dominik Masin slid a pass to Conacher, who ripped home a power-play tally to tie the game at one. 
 
The Amerks struck again early in the third to go ahead 2-1. Andrew Oglevie collected and scored on a reboud at 1:04 into the period for Rochester's second one-goal advantage. The Crunch's power play tied the game 10 minutes later. Goaltender Louis Domingue left the puck for Danick Martel in the Crunch zone. Martel raced up ice all the way into the offensive zone before scoring on a tough-angle backhander for his first Crunch goal, which eventually forced overtime.
 
Rochester prevailed in the extra session, outshooting the Crunch 5-1 when Tage Thompson's second goal of the game gave the Amerks a 3-2 win.
 
Scouting the Crunch  
 
The Crunch's opening night loss dropped the Crunch to 10-10-2-1 with three ties all time in their season openers. More recently, the Crunch are 3-2-2-1 in season openers during the Lightning affiliation, which began prior to the 2012-13 season. 
 
Danick Martel potted a goal in his first game of the season for the Crunch. It was his first goal since May 9, 2018 in the Atlantic Division Finals against Charlotte. The 24-year-old was limited to 13 games last season between the Crunch and Lightning. In Tampa Bay, Martel was the 13th forward and only dressed in nine games, adding two assists. In a four-game conditioning assignment with the Crunch, he added one assist. 
 
Cory Conacher opened the season with a power-play goal for the Crunch's first goal of the season. The veteran winger is back for his fifth season with the Crunch. After a 64 point regular season last year, the 29-year-old ranks fifth in franchise history for points with 168 (59g, 109a). His 0.928 points per game ranks third among that group.
 
Step one, check  
 
Rookies Jimmy Huntington and Peter Abbandonato both reached their first milestone last Friday in Rochester. The pair made their AHL/professional debuts for the Crunch after completing successful careers in the QMJHL.
 
Huntington finished last season with a career-high 92 points (40g, 52a) in his first season with Rimouski Oceanic. In total, he played in 290 career games in the "Q" for Rimouski, Victoriaville and Acadie-Bathurst then signed with the Lightning on March 1, 2019.
 
Abbandonato led the QMJHL in scoring as an overager last year, compiling 111 points (29g, 82a) in 68 games for Rouyn-Noranda. He led the Huskies to the Memorial Cup, scoring the game-winning goal in the final against Halifax. He tallied 267 career points in 264 games over four seasons for Rouyn-Noranda; he played for current Crunch assistant coach Gilles Bouchard during his first two seasons.
Both are looking for their first points in the AHL heading into the second weekend of the season.
 
Scouting the Monsters  
 
One season after sneaking into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, the Monsters are off to a 2-0-0-0 start following an opening-weekend road sweep of the Laval Rocket. Cleveland scored wins of 3-2 and 4-1 at Place Bell for their third 2-0-0-0 start in the last four years.
 
Tonight is Cleveland's home opener and it's the Monsters first home opener against a team other than Rockford since 2015-16. Since the Monsters joined the AHL prior to the 2007-08 season, they are 6-6-0-0 in home openers, including 1-0 against the Crunch.
 
Zac Dalpe, who led the Monsters with 55 points (33g, 22a) in 55 games last season, is off to a hot start in 2019-20. The veteran winger had a helper in Cleveland's season opening win against the Rocket and then added a pair of goals the next afternoon. He paces the Monsters with three points (2g, 1a) through the first two games of the season.
 
Goaltenders Matiss Kivlenieks and Veini Vehvilainen have combined to stop 57 of 60 shots through their first two games, good for a .950 save percentage. Kivlenieks is in his third season with the Monsters and is 19-25-5 in 58 career AHL games. Vehvilainen made his AHL/North American debut Saturday against the Rocket and made 30 saves. In Finland, he won the  Urpo Ylönen Award as Liiga's top goaltender in 2018 and in 2019.
 
Gemel Smith, Luke Schenn join Crunch
 
The Lightning bolstered the Crunch's roster this week with the additions of forward Gemel Smith and defenseman Luke Schenn.
Schenn, 29, split last season between the Anaheim and Vancouver organizations, seeing time in the NHL and AHL with San Diego and Utica. The fifth overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, Schenn has appeared in 734 NHL games with Toronto, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Arizona, Anaheim and Vancouver.
 
Smith, 25, started the season with the Lightning and logged a goal in three games. He has 21 points in 83 career NHL games, while notching 126 points in 233 AHL games. Last season with Providence, Smith had 40 points (16g, 24a) in 47 games, leading the Bruins in scoring after joining the team. Smith signed a one-year deal with the Lightning on July 8.
 
Oct. 8, 2010
 
The Monsters are 6-6-0-0 in home openers in franchise history dating to the 2007-08 season. That includes a 1-0 mark against the Crunch, who the Mosnters defeated, 3-2, on Oct. 8, 2010.
 
In that game—the Crunch's first game as the affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks—Syracuse raced out to a 1-0 lead in the first period. The Crunch then built a 2-0 lead early in the second period before the Monsters—then known as the Lake Erie Monsters—scored two goals in just over a minute span to tie the game in the middle period. 
 
The Monsters' Matthew Ford scored the game-winner with under three minutes to play in the third period. Fast forward nine years, and Ford opened the 2019-20 season with a four-point game (2g, 2a) for the Grand Rapids Griffins, who he's played for since the 2016-17 season.
 
Among notable players in 2010 was current Lightning defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. He did not register a point for the Monsters that night.