The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled left wing Markus Hannikainen from the AHL's Cleveland Monsters.
In 27 appearances for Columbus this season, Hannikainen posted 2-2-4 with six penalty minutes and a -1 rating and added 0-3-3 with an even rating in seven appearances for Cleveland. In 41 career NHL appearances for the Blue Jackets spanning three seasons from 2015-18, Hannikainen, 24, supplied 3-3-6 with 12 penalty minutes and a -3 rating.
In 114 career AHL appearances, all for the Monsters, spanning three seasons from 2015-18, Hannikainen, a 6’1”, 200 lb., left-handed native of Helsinki, Finland, logged 26-34-60 with 42 penalty minutes and a +12 rating and notched 3-7-10 with two penalty minutes and a +12 rating in 16 appearances in the 2016 AHL Playoffs, helping the Monsters claim the 2016 Calder Cup Championship. In 117 career Liiga appearances for Jokerit, HPK, and JYP spanning parts of four seasons from 2011-15, Hannikainen tallied 22-31-53 with 67 penalty minutes and a +26 rating and represented Finland in the 2012 and 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Championships, and the 2017 IIHF World Championships.
CLEVELAND – After erasing a three-goal deficit, it was a bad bounce off the boards that gave the Cleveland Monsters their go-ahead goal en route to a 6-3 win over the Texas Stars on Saturday night in front of 14,317 in attendance at Quicken Loans Arena.
TJ Tynan's dump into the corner kicked the puck back in front and left Texas goaltender Justin Peters trapped behind the net as Ryan Craig tapped in an open net goal with 4:53 to play after the Monsters rallied back from a 3-0 deficit.
Sonny Milano finished with a three-point game for Cleveland (2-1=3). Peters saw his career-high shutout streak come to an end at 161:17, while the Monsters snapped their scoreless drought of 149:16 in the win.
Texas (28-30-1-4) returns home on Wednesday to host the Tucson Roadrunners at 7:30 p.m. CST.
After weathering an early storm from the Monsters (28-27-3-4) in the opening minutes, the Stars took control of the game with three goals in a 12-minutes span of period one. Matej Stransky slapped a bouncing puck in the slot past Cleveland starter Anton Forsberg at 4:59 for his 20th of the season. Brandon DeFazio forced a turnover in the Monsters zone and buried a power-play goal with eight minutes to play, and Caleb Herbert snuck a wraparound attempt in the net with 2:17 left in the frame to score in his second straight game.
The Monsters responded in period two beginning with Marc-Andre Bergeron's power-play goal at 7:24. With six minutes to play in the second, Sonny Milano made it a 3-2 score during a delayed penalty call against Texas after banking a puck off the back of Peters.
In the third, Cleveland forced the game back to even on a breakaway goal by Jordan Maletta at 7:28. After Craig's tally, Milano and Zac Dalpe added empty-net goals for the Monsters to seal the win.
Peters finished 34 of 38 in net for the Stars. Forsberg stopped 19 of 22.
Texas was 1-for-3 on the power play while Cleveland was 1-for-2.
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.
MILWAUKEE, WI--The Admirals put up a valiant fight, but couldn't overcome a four-goal deficit in the third period as they fell 5-3 to the Cleveland Monsters on Wednesday afternoon at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The win snapped a five-game home winning streak and a three-game point streak.
Down 4-0 early in the third, Milwaukee stormed back with goals from Freddy Gaudreau, Pontus Aberg and Petter Granberg, his first in the AHL, to pull within a goal at 4-3 and there was still 8:47 to play in the game.
However, in spite of some very good looks the rest of the way the Admirals weren't able to get the equalizer.
Cleveland's Sony Milano scored an empty-netter with five seconds to play to make it a 5-3 final.
After a scoreless first period, Cleveland put up three goals in the second as Akim Aliu, Brett Gallant, and Miles Koules all found the back of the net for the Monsters.
The Monsters got another tally just 64 seconds into the third on John Ramage's fourth goal of the season and they had a 4-0 lead.
Gaudreau finished the night with a goal and two assists, while Captain Trevor Smith picked up a pair of assists in the game.
Milwaukee finished the game 2-for-6 on the power-play, while Cleveland did not have a man advantage in the contest.
The Admirals continue their four-game homestand when the host the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night at 7 pm at Panther Arena. Following the game Classic Rock Icons Cheap Trick will perform live as part of the Admirals Concert Series.
