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Cleveland Monsters

Second Straight Night of Last-Minute Winning for Monsters

December 21, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Monsters News Release


Rookie Andrew Agozzino capitalized on a turnover and immediately fired home the game-winning goal for the Lake Erie Monsters (14-13-1-1) with 1:04 left in the game to complete their 4-3 victory over the Houston Aeros (14-9-1-3) Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena. Agozzino scored twice on the night, extending his point streak to four games. Mike Sgarbossa is also carrying a four-game point streak for the Monsters after an assist Thursday. David van der Gulik and Bill Thomas also scored for the Monsters in the win.

van der Gulik followed his four-point game on Wednesday (a 4-3 overtime win for the Monsters) by opening the scoring on Thursday, giving the Monsters a 1-0 lead at 11:39 of the first period on a power play marker. Thomas Pock ripped a point shot and van der Gulik tipped it into the Houston net, with Stefan Elliott also registering an assist on the play. The goal was van der Gulik's seventh of the season.

Houston tied the game on a Drew Bagnall shot from the center of the blue line at 13:54 of the first period, making the score 1-1.

With the game tied and the Monsters on a power play early in the second period, Sgarbossa walked up to the faceoff dot on the right side, sent a pass onto the tape of Bill Thomas, and Thomas one-timed the puck by Houston goalie Matt Hackett for a power play goal- his ninth goal of the season- to give the Monsters a 2-1 lead. Tyson Barrie also assisted on the goal.

Agozzino picked up a bouncing puck in the right circle and backhanded a shot past Hackett at the 8:48 mark of the second period to extend the Monsters lead to 3-1, with assists going to Mike Connolly and Dean Strong.

Houston's Jarod Palmer scored in the final minute of the second period to pull the Aeros to within a goal, and Joel Broda tied the game for Houston at the 2:57 mark of the third period. The game remained tied at 3-3 until the final moments of the game.

The Aeros turned a puck over in front of Hackett, and without delay, Agozzino took a turnaround shot that beat Hackett, securing the 4-3 win for the Monsters. The goal was Agozzino's 10th; the second-most on the team.

Calvin Pickard stopped 20 of 23 to improve to 6-7-1 on the season for the Monsters. Hackett Stopped 17 of 21 for Houston, and his record falls to 11-7-3.

The Monsters host the Aeros again at 7:30 PM on Saturday.

NOTES: The Monsters have won two consecutive games, and are now 5-6-1-0 on home ice this season... The Monsters are 2-0-0-0 against the Aeros this season after taking a 5-4 decision in a shootout in Houston on 11/9/12... The Monsters are 7-3-0-0 when Bill Thomas gets a point, and 5-3-0-0 when he scores a goal... van der Gulik has two goals and three assists over his last two games... Stefan Elliott has assists in back-to-back games, and now has a goal and three assists over his last four games... Sgarbossa has two goals and four assists over his current four-game point streak... Agozzino has two goals and three assists on his current four-game point streak; his three-game assist streak snapped in Thursday's win... Tyson Barrie has a three-game point streak; he has a goal and three assists over the streak... The Monsters were 2-6 on the power play, scoring two or more power play goals for the sixth time this season... The Monsters were 3-3 on the penalty kill; they are now 8-5-0-1 when they are perfect on the penalty kill... The Monsters improve to 9-6-1-1 in one-goal games this season.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 21, 2012


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