Monsters coach Trent Vogelhuber called his only timeout of the game March 7 with more than eight minutes left in the first period. As it turned out, that was too late to prevent a 3-1 loss to the visiting Grand Rapids Griffins on Pucks and Paws day at Rocket Arena. Vogelhuber called his timeout imme diately after Griffins left wing Gabriel Seger intercepted a pass, waltzed in alone on Monsters goalie Ivan Fedotov and lifted the puck over Fedotov’s glove with a backhand shot while crossing in front of the net for a 2-0 Grand Rapids lead at 11:48 of the first period. The Griffins didn’t light the lamp again until Carter Mazur scored his sixth goal in seven games with Grand Rapids to open a 3-1 lead 8:48 into the third period. But by then with the damage it was too late to mount a comeback, much to the disappointment of the 13,204 fans and their tail-wagging companions. “There was no engagement, no stopping and starting, not a fun 12 minutes to watch,” Vogelhuber said when asked about why he called the timeout so early. “I wanted it to end. “The damage was done at that point, 2-0, but if we kept playing like that it was going to get out of hand.” Roman Ahchan cut the deficit in half 3:02 into the second period on a slapshot from the right point for his 13th goal of the season, but the Monsters could get no closer. They did not play with the same energy they displayed a night earlier when they beat the Griffins, 3-2. Grand Rapids, 43-9-3-1, with 90 points, has a commanding 23-point lead on the second-place Chicago Wolves in the Central Division. The Griffins have the second-best record in the 90-year history of the American Hockey League at this point of the season. Only Birmingham, with 92 points after 56 games in the 1992-93 season, was better. But that was no consolation to Vogelhuber, because the Monsters proved March 6 they can skate with the Griffins. “We won yesterday because we did all the little things and the things that are hard to do,” Vogelhuber said. “Us thinking because we won that we were just going to show up and win — there’s a reason why we won, and we weren’t doing any of those things. “It got better and we gave ourselves a chance, but you can’t start a hockey game like we did against a team like that.” The Monsters, 30-19-6-1, are third in the AHL North. Their next six games are on the road — two at Hartford, one at Toronto, one at Belleville and two at Syracuse. ...read more read less