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AHL Cleveland Monsters

Marlies Drop Monsters 4-1

March 28, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Monsters News Release


The Lake Erie Monsters came out in front of 14,343 strong only to fall to the 44-win Toronto Marlies, 4-1, Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Monsters fell into a hole early in the game as a loose rebound was poked home by Brent Aubin at the 2:21 mark of the first, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead. Given the assists on the opening goal of the game were Peter Tsimikalis and Derrick Walser.

Almost immediately off the face-off feed from Colin Murphy, Chris Harrington potted a goal at the 6:16 mark. Alex Foster was given credit for the second assist as he made the tip-pass from the face-off to Murphy.

The first period came to a close with the Marlies ahead, 2-0, as the home crowd stirred with anticipation of a Monsters tally.

The Cleveland fans were brought to their feet as they got their wish more than half way into the second period when Jamie Lundmark buried the biscuit in the net at the 13:36 mark of the second. Lundmark's 11th goal of the season was assisted by Rob Drummond and Tom Fritsche.

"It was kind of a broken play in our zone. Fritsche chipped it up the board and gave me the puck and I just strung it back in the net," said Lundmark.

Toronto tossed in their third goal of the night on a tape-to-tape crossing pass from Ben Ondrus to Alex Foster at the 17:49 mark of the second. Murphy also got the helper on Fosters' tally.

The end of the second period marked a 3-1 lead for the North Division-leading Marlies and they'd soon look to put the Monsters away for good.

The Marlies built on their lead when a wrister from Murphy found its way to the back of the net at 7:29 of the third to give Toronto a three-goal advantage. The lone assist was credited to Foster.

Monsters netminder Mike Wall made 24 stops on 28 shots on the evening, while his counterpart Justin Pogge turned away 22 shots of the 23 that he faced.

"It got better as the game went on. We came out a little bit sluggish. We missed assignments, in that particular situation we need to be ready. Overall that was a great hockey team we played tonight. We just have to come out better tomorrow night (Saturday in Syracuse)," said Monsters head coach Joe Sacco.

The Monsters now head on a two-game swing to Syracuse and Toronto in back-to-back nights beginning Saturday. Friday's game was the first of three in a row and part of five games in six nights for Lake Erie this week. They return home on Wednesday, April 2nd to face-off against the Houston Aeros at 7:00 p.m.

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