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AHL Cleveland Monsters

Manitoba Comes Back To Tie Series And Force Game 7

April 24, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Monsters News Release


On Sunday afternoon the Lake Erie Monsters had their second opportunity in three days to end their North Division Semi-Final series against the Manitoba Moose, but surrendered a 3-1 game at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Monsters built a 3-1 advantage through the first four games of the best-of-seven series, but are now tied at three games apiece with Manitoba, forcing a decisive Game 7 at The Q at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday night.

The winner of Tuesday's contest will advance to play the Hamilton Bulldogs in the North Division Finals. With a 4-1 come-from-behind win in Game 6 on Sunday afternoon, Hamilton finished their series against the Oklahoma City Barons as 4-2 victors.

After a scoreless opening period between Lake Erie and Manitoba, the Monsters carried a 14-7 advantage in shots.

In the middle frame, Lake Erie used a power play to take a 1-0 lead at the 2:10 mark. Julian Talbot took a pass from Stefan Elliot and rifled a one-time shot into the top of the net from the right circle. Talbot's goal came as his first of the Playoffs, with Matt Ford also assisting.

Manitoba answered quickly, as Bill Sweatt scored off an assist from Kevin Clark at 3:43.

After the second period, the score was 1-1, while Lake Erie posted eight shots compared to six by Manitoba.

After Lake Erie had shut down Manitoba's power play on every one of its previous 25 attempts in the Playoffs, the Moose finally found the back of the net on the man advantage, as Keith Seabrook scored at 7:36 of the third period off assists from Clark and Jordan Schroeder. Lake Erie's penalty kill is now 25-for-26 (96.2%) against Manitoba in this series. Combined with a perfect 20-for-20 effort against the Moose during the regular season, the Monsters have remarkably denied 45 of Manitoba's 46 power play chances (97.8%) this year.

Manitoba made the score 3-1 with a goal at 17:02 of the third period. In a two-on-one rush, Marco Rosa entered Lake Erie territory on the left wing side, patiently waited for a passing opportunity and set up Sergei Shirokov with a tap-in goal from close range. Jason Jaffray also assisted.

In the final two minutes, Lake Erie pulled goaltender John Grahame in favor of an extra attacker, but the Moose held on for a 3-1 final.

Grahame, who made his fourth start of the series, turned aside 17 of 20 shots faced in the game.

At the other end, Eddie Lack stopped 28 of 29 in the win.

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