The Cleveland Monsters had to sweat out their Game 1 win Thursday night against the Toronto Marlies. But giving up two late goals and having to pull out the win in overtime were not about to shake head coach Trent Vogelhuber.
Vogelhuber led his team to overtime of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last June after they had lost the first three games of the series to Hershey. He saw the many highs and lows – be they period-to-period, game-to-game, or series-to-series – that come with a team making its way through the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Vogelhuber believes that playoff hockey is process-oriented, not results-oriented.
“Managing ups and downs,” he said after the Game 1 victory over Toronto. “When you manage your emotions, and you don’t base what you’re doing off the result, you end up on the better side. It’s easy to talk about it, but putting it in practice is different. You just keep going, and you don’t worry about the result. You keep playing and stay about your business.”
Cleveland benefited from the return of defenseman Denton Mateychuk for Game 1. The 20-year-old rookie, taken 12th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, had an exceptional start with the Monsters this season before his December recall to Columbus. He made his pro debut for Cleveland during last year’s conference finals.
Mateychuk has experience beyond his years, including the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Memorial Cup and World Junior Championships – to say nothing of his 45 games in the NHL this season.
“The guys in the room… It wasn’t getting down on ourselves,” Mateychuk told reporters after Game 1. “It was, ‘Let’s go out there and get it back.’ It was a really positive message, and I think that sets you up well for that overtime.”
San Jose Barracuda head coach John McCarthy provided quite the understatement Thursday night.
“I thought we executed the game plan pretty well,” he said following a 2-0 masterpiece road victory against Ontario in Game 1 of the teams’ first-round series.
The Barracuda held Ontario to 17 shots on goal, including just one in the third period. When Ontario did manage to generate opportunities, the Barracuda had Yaroslav Askarov to handle any trouble. Playoff hockey is nothing new to Askarov, who reached the conference finals with Milwaukee in 2023 and again in 2024. Gaining more big-game experience can mean dealing with a busy night in net. Or it can mean adjusting to something much quieter like Game 1.
“We took care of the puck,” McCarthy continued. “I thought we played tight. I thought our gaps were tight. I thought we tracked well, took care of the puck, no unnecessary turnovers. I thought we played well, played with passion.”
The Reign picked up some potential postseason help Friday when the Los Angeles Kings reassigned 2024 first-round pick Liam Greentree to the team.
Greentree, a 19-year-old forward, went to the Kings with the 26th overall pick in last June’s NHL Draft. He had an outstanding season with Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League, where his 119 points (49 goals, 70 assists) in 64 regular-season games placed him third in OHL scoring. He added a league-leading 14 goals in 11 playoff games before Windsor was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs this week.
― with files from Patrick Williams
