Rookie forward Tyler Angle scored two goals for the second day in a row as the Cleveland Monsters secured a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Wolves Sunday afternoon at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Defenseman Max Lajoie and forward Anthony Richard scored for the Wolves (15-5-1-2), who twice pulled within one goal but could not find the equalizer. Goaltender Connor Ingram (0-2-1) stopped 19 of 22 shots.
Cleveland (13-7-1-0) jumped to a 2-0 lead in the opening seven minutes as the hosts scored twice in a 39-second span. Forward Tristan Mullin found an open spot in the lower part of the left faceoff circle and ripped home a pass from Zach Jordan at 5:38.
Shortly thereafter, veteran forward Brett Gallant sneaked behind the Wolves defense and scored on a breakaway to make it 2-0 at 6:17.
The Wolves responded with a strong two minutes on their first power play. One second before their man-advantage expired, rookie Zach Solow set up Lajoie for a blast from the high slot to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 16:14.
The Monsters regained their two-goal lead when Angle, the late man on the rush, collected Liam Foudy’s pass in the high slot and fired to secure a 3-1 advantage at 13:08 of the second period.
Chicago sliced the lead to 3-2 when Richard buried a shot on a 3-on-1 rush with 4:04 remaining in regulation. Defenseman Frederic Allard intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and moved it ahead quickly to allow Richard to catch the Monsters napping.
The Wolves kept up the pressure and removed Ingram with 1:52 left to get the extra attacker on the ice, but Angle posted an empty-net goal with 1:40 to go to clinch matters.
Monsters goaltender Matiss Kavlenieks (6-1-0) notched 28 saves to earn the win.
The Wolves wrap up three games in three days with a visit to Grand Rapids at 6 p.m. Monday. Chicago’s next game at the Wolves Training Facility happens 7 p.m. Friday against the Iowa Wild.