AHL Cleveland Monsters

Lake Erie Offense Errupts For Six Goals In Win

Published on December 2, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Monsters News Release


After being shutout for the past two games, the Lake Erie Monsters offense broke out for a season-high six goals in a 6-2 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena. With the win, the Monsters improve to 8-13-0-2 while the Griffins drop to 13-8-0-0. The six goals tied a season-high for the Monsters, as the team did it once before this season, in an 8-6 loss to the Griffins on November 8th. Lake Erie's offense was sparked by multi-point efforts from six players in Tuesday's win.

Kris Newbury opened the scoring for the Griffins, netting his fifth goal of the year midway through the first period. When Monsters goalie Tyler Weiman kicked out a shot along the goal line, Newbury rang the rebound off the post, off Weiman's back, and into the net. Jamie Tardif and Doug Janik recorded assists on the goal.

Keeping the pressure on the Monsters, Jan Mursak added to the Griffins lead at the 16:15 mark of the first with his sixth goal of the season. Taking a pass from the half wall from Patrick Rissmiller, Jakub Kindl put a low shot toward the Monsters net that Mursak deflected past Weiman.

Heading into the second period down two, the Monsters cut the Griffins lead in half on Brock Bradford's sixth goal of the season four minutes into the middle frame. Standing in front of the Grand Rapids net, Bradford deflected a low point shot from the stick of Wes O'Neill past the blocker of goalie Daniel Larsson. Phil Dupuis recorded the second assist on the goal.

Less than three minutes later, Lake Erie would tie the game with defenseman Brett Skinner's first goal of the season. With the puck at the point, Skinner threw a shot on net that fluttered through traffic and found its way past Larsson, knotting the game at two. Matt Ford and Dupuis picked up the helpers on the goal. The two assists from Dupuis marked his second multi-point game of the season.

Captain Darren Haydar would give the Monsters their first lead of the game at the 11:29 mark of the second, netting his seventh goal of the season against his former Grand Rapids teammates. Taking a pass on the goal line from T.J. Hensick, Haydar stepped out in front and chipped a backhander over Larsson's glove, off the post and in the net to cap the Monsters three-goal second period. The assist was Hensick's first point since coming down from the Colorado Avalanche on November 26th.

With a one-goal lead and 20 minutes left in regulation, the Monsters would go up by two on Brandon Yip's first goal of the season. Taking a pass on the left wall from Skinner, Yip used his speed to shield off a Griffins defender before snapping a low wrist shot past the glove of Larsson at the 7:02 mark of the third. The goal and the game were both the firsts of Yip's professional career, as the rookie forward missed the first 22 games of the season with a hand injury. With a goal and an assist on the night, Skinner recorded his second multi-point game of the season.

Shutting down the Griffins attack throughout the third, the Monsters padded their lead to three on rookie forward Ryan Stoa's fifth of the year with two minutes left in regulation. Cutting into the zone, Hensick took a pass from Haydar, curled around the circle, and threw a perfect pass out in front that Stoa one-timed past Larsson. With the assist and a goal, Haydar picked up his fifth multi-point game of the season, while Hensick recorded his first multi-point game of the year with two assists.

Bradford would cap the scoring with his seventh of the season and second of the game, taking a pass from behind the net from Ford and pushing the puck into an empty net at the 18:42 mark of the third period. The two-goal game marked Bradford's third multi-point game of the season, while Ford registered his second multi-point game of the season with two helpers.

Weiman ended the game making 27 saves on 29 shots while Larsson made 16 saves on 21 shots.

"I told our team that we moved a little bit of dirt tonight," said Monsters head coach David Quinn. "We dug ourselves a hole and we have an awful lot of dirt on us and tonight we saw a little bit of light. Now we have to move more on Friday and Saturday."

The Monsters return to the ice this weekend, when they travel to Illinois to play the Chicago Wolves Friday and the Rockford IceHogs Saturday. Lake Erie returns to The Q on Saturday, December 12th to play the Wolves at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available by calling (216) 420-0000, by visiting LakeErieMonsters.com or by visiting any Northern Ohio Discount Drug Mart.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 2, 2009


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