CLEVELAND -- Jesse Kiiskinen and Sheldon Dries combined for three goals in the third period, but Tate Singleton spoiled the Grand Rapids Griffins’ comeback with his overtime tally to give the Cleveland Monsters a 5-4 win at Rocket Arena on Sunday.

In addition to Kiiskinen’s two goals, Theo Rochette added a pair of assists while Dries and Jacob Bryson both potted two points (1-1—2). In net, rookie Trey Augustine collected his first pro result in the overtime defeat behind 26 saves. 

Augustine collected 10 stops in the opening period, but the Monsters began the scoring at 13:05 into the contest. Boston Buckberger fired a wrist shot from the blue line past Augustine’s glove on a power play for a 1-0 advantage, the only tally from either squad in the first.

The Griffins evened the score on the man-advantage at the start of the second period. Dries fed Bryson in the left circle, and he fired the puck past Evan Gardner at 1:58.

Cleveland responded with three unanswered goals in the final 9:02 of the second. At the 10:58 mark, Charlie Elick gave his team a 2-1 lead before Luke Tuch extended the advantage at 14:42. Finally, Josh Eernisse made it 4-1 with 1:05 remaining in the frame.

Grand Rapids began its three-goal third period at 9:39 when a shot from Wilmer Skoog went wide and bounced off the boards and Kiiskinen scored on the rebound to make it 4-2.

Kiiskinen struck again with 3:24 left in the game, this time by taking a cross-ice pass from Shai Buium on a power play and sinking a slapshot to bring the Griffins within one.

Grand Rapids pulled Augustine with 1:35 to play, and a penalty committed by Cleveland gave the Griffins a 6-on-4 chance with 28 seconds remaining. Grand Rapids capitalized on the situation when Dries cleaned up a rebound in the crease off a shot from Rochette with eight seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Singleton potted the winning goal on a 2-on-1 chance with 13 seconds left in overtime to seal the victory for Cleveland. 

Notes

• Bryson scored his first goal as a Griffin in his second outing.
• Grand Rapids finished 3-for-8 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.
• Over the two-game weekend, the Griffins killed off three separate 5-on-3s. 

Box Score
Grand Rapids 0 1 3 0 - 4
Cleveland 1 3 0 1 - 5

1st Period-1, Cleveland, Buckberger 1 (Keskinen, Lorentz), 13:05 (PP). Penalties-Kannok Leipert Gr (fighting), 4:19; Ceulemans Cle (fighting), 4:19; Kannok Leipert Gr (hooking), 12:48; Eernisse Cle (hooking), 16:26.

2nd Period-2, Grand Rapids, Bryson 1 (Dries, Rochette), 1:58 (PP). 3, Cleveland, Elick 1 (Clendening, Tuch), 10:58. 4, Cleveland, Tuch 2 (Eernisse, McCue), 14:42. 5, Cleveland, Eernisse 1   18:55. Penalties-Marrelli Cle (hooking), 0:38; Skoog Gr (cross-checking), 5:24; Pinelli Cle (roughing, cross-checking), 5:24; Richard Cle (tripping), 14:56; Butler Gr (interference), 20:00.

3rd Period-6, Grand Rapids, Kiiskinen 1 (Skoog, Augustine), 9:39. 7, Grand Rapids, Kiiskinen 2 (Buium, Dower Nilsson), 16:36 (PP). 8, Grand Rapids, Dries 3 (Rochette, Bryson), 19:52 (PP). Penalties-Dries Gr (tripping), 0:23; Kannok Leipert Gr (high-sticking), 3:00; Clendening Cle (interference), 7:34; Dries Gr (high-sticking), 13:02; Marrelli Cle (tripping), 14:41; Pinelli Cle (double minor - high-sticking), 19:32.

OT Period-9, Cleveland, Singleton 1 (Sillinger, Ceulemans), 4:47. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 5-9-14-5-33. Cleveland 11-7-11-2-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 3 / 8; Cleveland 1 / 5.
Goalies-Grand Rapids, Augustine 0-0-1 (31 shots-26 saves). Cleveland, Gardner 1-0-0 (33 shots-29 saves).
A-7,215

Three Stars
1. CLE Eernisse (goal, assist); 2. CLE Buckberger (goal); 3. CLE Tuch (goal, assist)

Record/ Next Game
Grand Rapids: 1-0-1-0 (3 pts.) / Fri., Oct. 9 vs Manitoba 7 p.m.
Cleveland: 1-1-0-0 (2 pts.) / Sat., Oct. 10 at Lehigh Valley 7:05 p.m.

Photo by Cleveland Monsters