The Fresno Monsters needed to sweep all nine points from their trip to Bremerton, WA to maintain their first-place standing in the Western Division and they did just that, although the West Sound Admirals gave them a serious scare on Saturday night.
Fresno 9, West Sound 2 – Jonathan Holguin and Stanislav Danaev each scored a pair of goals and Tyler Mathews made 19 saves on 21 shots to lead the Fresno Monsters to a 9-2 win over the West Sound Admirals Friday night.
Five different Monsters scored in the third period as Fresno pulled away.
Caleb Travis and Vladislav Polyashov scored first-period goals for the Admirals.
Fresno 5, West Sound 4 – The Admirals put on an admirable display on Saturday and they were either tied or ahead for the first 58:26 of the game and held leads of 3-1 and 4-3. But the Monsters took the lead when it mattered. Gustaf Wranghede’s goal with 1:34 left in regulation allowed Fresno to sneak away with a 5-4 win.
Danaev’s second goal of the game tied it at 12:18 of the third period, as he tipped in a point shot from Joel Brotzge for a power play goal.
With the game tied in the final two minutes the Monsters maintained possession in the Admirals end. Dustin Truex played the puck from low to high, getting it back to Logan Domagala who wristed it on net. Wranghede got a stick on it on the way through for the game-winner.
Noah Bird stopped 32 of 33 shots through the first 40 minutes of the game, but allowed four goals in the final frame and took the loss.
Max Karlenzig (26 saves) held the fort in the third period, stopping 11 of 12 shots as the Monsters staged the come-from-behind victory.
Fresno 12, West Sound 3 – If West Sound made a statement with their near-win on Saturday, the Monsters did the same on Sunday, scoring six times in the third period to pull away in a 12-3 win.
Wranghede, Truex and Rory Scott all scored twice in the game for Fresno with Wranghede scoring his :19 apart in the second period.
Brotzge had a goal and five assists to top the individual scoring chart for the Monsters.
Vladislav Polyashov scored a pair of goals for the Admirals and Alex Olsson made 46 saves before being pulled from the West Sound crease late in the game.