Sifers Lifts Monsters to 3-2 Overtime Win Over Wolves

ROSEMONT, IL – The AHL’s defending Calder Cup Champions, the Cleveland Monsters, proudly powered by Constellation, defeated the Chicago Wolves in overtime on Thursday at Allstate Arena by a final score of 3-2. With the win, the Monsters improved to 27-24-3-4 overall this season and with a .526 points percentage, currently remain alone in fifth place in the AHL’s Central Division standings.

After a scoreless opening period, Jordan Maletta deposited a left-wing transition wrist shot past Wolves net-minder Jordan Binnington at 8:06 of the middle stanza to make it 1-0 Cleveland with even-strength feeds coming courtesy of Daniel Zaar and Markus Hannikainen.

Chicago’s Brett Sterling tied the game with an even-strength marker at 2:11 of the third before Akim Aliu extended his goal streak to three games with a five-on-five finish from Hannikainen at 3:17. James Wisniewski equalized for the Wolves with a five-on-three power-play goal at 14:34 of the final period that forced overtime, but after multiple game-saving stops for Cleveland backstop Anton Forsberg in the extra session, Jaime Sifers stuck with a rebound play from Maletta and Forsberg himself at 3:29 to deliver the Monsters a 3-2 win. Forsberg improved to 18-12-3 by virtue of a 33-save performance while Binnington fell to 12-6-5 despite stopping 25 pucks in defeat.