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AHL Cleveland Monsters

Monsters Win Fifth Straight, Top Griffins 3-2

December 10, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Monsters News Release


Max Noreau's goal at 2:54 of overtime secured a fifth straight victory for the Lake Erie Monsters (11-8-2-2), who topped the Grand Rapids Griffins 3-2 Wednesday night at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The victory marked the second straight in overtime for the Monsters, and it extended the Monsters point streak to seven games. Cody Corbett and Mitchell Heard also scored for the Monsters, who are back in action Friday night against Rockford. Friday's game at Quicken Loans Arena starts at 7:30 p.m.

Cody Corbett opened the scoring with his first professional goal, and the only goal of the first period. With the Monsters on the power play, Joey Hishon made a pass from the bottom of the left circle to Corbett on the inside edge of the right circle, and Corbett one-timed a shot past Griffins goalie Tom McCollum. Colin Smith also assisted on Corbett's first of the season, scored at 16:31 of the first period. Sami Aittokallio stopped all 10 Griffins shots in the first period to help the Monsters to a 1-0 lead through one period.

The Monsters held their 1-0 lead until Ryan Sproul rushed into the Monsters zone and rifled a slap shot upstairs to beat Aittokallio and tie the game at 1-1 for Grand Rapids at 13:47 of the second period. Under five minutes later, at 18:35 of the second period in a delayed penalty situation, Griffins defenseman Nathan Paetsch ripped a shot from the left point that hit the short side goal post, bounced off of Aittokallio, and over the goal line to give the Griffins a 2-1 lead.

Mitchell Heard and Mike Sgarbossa drove up the ice on a two-on-one near the midway point of the third period, and Heard took the puck through the right circle, and flipped a backhand top-shelf to beat McCollum and tie the game at 2-2 at 8:09 of the third period. Trevor Cheek and Gabe Beaupre assisted on Heard's first goal of the season.

A brilliant setup from Kenny Ryan on the right boards to Max Noreau cutting to the net ended the game in the Monsters favor, as Noreau one-timed the sharp pass from Ryan by McCollum to give the Monsters a fifth straight victory and second straight in overtime. The goal came at 2:54 of overtime, and was the fifth of the season for Noreau, who scored goals in each game of the Monsters two-game road swing.

Aittokallio is 4-1-1 after stopping 27 of 29 shots in the Monsters win. McCollum stopped 27 of 30 shots in the overtime loss for Grand Rapids, and his record moves to 5-7-3.

The Monsters host Rockford Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Friday's game airs live on ESPN 850 WKNR and Saturday's game can be heard on AM 1420 "˜The Answer'.

NOTES: The Monsters are 4-3-0-0 against Grand Rapids this season, and with the win, leap into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference... The Monsters and Griffins entered Wednesday's action with the same point total (24) in the same number of games played (22)... The Monsters are now 5-5-1-2 on the road this season, and are 7-2-1-1 over their last 11 contests... Aittokallio is 3-1-0 against Grand Rapids this season... Ryan has eight points in six games against the Griffins this season... The Monsters have been assessed just 12 penalty minutes over their last two games... The Monsters were 1-1 on the power play, and Grand Rapids was 0-2 on the power play... Follow the Monsters on Twitter @monstershockey, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lakeeriemonsters, and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/monstershockey .

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