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AHL Cleveland Monsters

Monsters Comeback Comes Up Short

December 29, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Monsters News Release


The Lake Erie Monsters four-game winning streak came to an end Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, as the team's last-ditch efforts came up short in a 5-3 loss to the Peoria Rivermen. With the loss, the Monsters are 13-18-0-3 on the year while Peoria's record improves to 19-11-1-2 with the win.

Derek Armstrong started the scoring out for the Rivermen, notching his sixth of the season just 56 seconds into the game. Standing in front of Monsters goalie Tyler Weiman, Armstrong deflected a Danny Richmond point shot through the legs of a screened Weiman. Bryce Lampman recorded the secondary assist on the goal.

Then, less than three minutes later, Jonas Junland registered his seventh of the year on the power play. At the top of the left circle, Junland took a cross-ice feed from Armstrong and ripped a wrist shot past the blocker of Weiman and into the top corner of the net. Lars Eller recorded the second assist on the goal.

In a bit of déj=E0 vu, Junland recorded his eighth of the year and second of the game in the same scenario - taking a cross-ice feed from Armstrong and wiring a wrist shot past Weiman's blocker on the power play. The goal, which gave Peoria a 3-0 lead, was tallied at the 10-minute mark of the first and was also assisted by Tyson Strachan.

Before the first period would end, Brian Willsie cut Peoria's lead to two with his ninth of the season at the 15:13 mark of the first frame. Cutting down the right side of the ice with the puck on a two-on-one, Marty Sertich laid a pass across the middle of the Rivermen zone to Willsie, who buried a one-timer past the blocker of an outstretched Ben Bishop. Travis Gawryletz registered the secondary assist on the goal, and has recorded a helper in the past three straight games.

The second period would go by without a score, as Weiman turned away five shots from the Rivermen and Bishop stopped all 11 shots he faced from Lake Erie, and the Rivermen would head into regulation's final frame with a 3-1 lead.

Lake Erie would waste little time in their comeback attempt, as rookie Ryan Stoa recorded his 12th goal of the season less than 90 seconds into the third. Standing off to Bishop's left, Stoa one-timed a cross-crease feed from Darren Haydar into a yawning net. T.J. Hensick recorded the secondary assist on the goal, a power play tally. With the helpers, both Haydar and Hensick have recorded an assist in the past five consecutive games. Registering the goal, Stoa has amassed seven points (5G, 2A) in the past five games.

Although the Monsters scored the first goal of the third period, the next goal would come from Peoria's Pascal Pelletier 14 minutes later. Coming into the Monsters zone, Pelletier took a pass from Adam Cracknell in the high slot and put a shot on net that careened off a Monsters defenseman and fluttered over Weiman's shoulder with less than five minutes left in regulation. Julian Talbot registered the second assist on the goal.

Despite being down two, the Monsters battled back, and Hensick netted his fourth of the season at the 18:53 mark of the third. Holding the puck in at the point, defenseman Tom Preissing pushed the puck down to Hensick, who threw a shot in front that deflected off a Peoria defender and through the legs of Bishop to make it a one-goal game. Haydar registered the secondary assist on the goal. Preissing's assist gives the Monsters defender points in four consecutive games, as Preissing has recorded five points (1G, 4A) in that span.

With the assists, Haydar recorded his team-leading 10th multi-point game of the season, while Hensick's two-point effort (1G, 1A) was his sixth multi-point game of the season. With the assists, Haydar has recorded 10 points (5G, 5A) in the past four games while Hensick has registered 11 points (1G, 10A) in the previous four contests.

Lake Erie's late attempt to send the game into overtime came up short, as Bishop shut the door and Peoria's Barry Tallackson iced the game with an empty net goal with one second left on the clock.

"I thought we were half a step slow tonight," said Monsters head coach David Quinn. "We were just a step behind, especially in the first period. In the third period we were a lot better but that is a good team we just played and I give them a lot of credit; they scored some nice power play goals."

Weiman ended the game making 13 saves on 17 shots while Bishop turned away 28 of 31 shots from the Monsters in the win.

The Monsters play their final contest of the 2009 calendar year on Thursday, when they host the Rochester Americans on New Year's Eve at 5:00 p.m. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling (216) 420-0000, by visiting LakeErieMonsters.com or by visiting any Northern Ohio Discount Drug Mart.

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