This seems to be becoming a habit. 

The Lake Erie Monsters defeated the Americans in Rochester on Friday, 4-3, via a shootout.  It was the second straight shootout and fourth consecutive extra-session game for Lake Erie.  During those last four contests, the Monsters have now gone 1-1 in OT, as well as 1-1 in the shootout.

After the first period, it didn't look like any extra time would be needed by Rochester, as they easily handled the Monsters to open the game, with help from Stefan Meyer and Dylan Hunter.  Left wing Meyer gave Rochester a 2-0 lead within a two-minute span late in the first.  He found the back of the Monsters net at 16:07, assisted by Hunter and Peter Aston.  At the 18:26 mark, Meyer scored again, and was again assisted by Hunter, as well as Mike Funk. 

Drew Larman added an extra security goal before the opening stanza ended, lighting the lamp at 19:20 off passes from Andrej Sekera and Marc-Andre Gragnani.

After giving up three unanswered goals in the first period, it looked bleak for the Monsters.  Until they scored three unanswered of their own in the second.

Chris Stewart got the Lake Erie scoring started just 1:40 into the middle set, assisted by Philippe Dupuis and Eric Healey.

Just a few minutes later, David Jones would get in on the action.  He converted the only power play goal of the game at 5:10 in the second.  Assists were credited to Jeff Friesen and Brad Richardson.

Newcomer Dupuis lit the lamp himself to finish up the Monsters scoring barrage.  His goal - his first as a Monster - came at 13:56 and was assisted by Stewart and Vladimir Denisov.  Dupuis tied the game at 3 apiece to enter the last period.

While the first two periods were offensive onslaughts, the third was just the opposite.  The last stanza came and went with no score, as did overtime.  Which meant, for the second straight game for Lake Erie, a shootout.  The contest was also the fourth consecutive game that went beyond regulation for the Monsters.

The shootout was almost as cold offensively as overtime.  The Amerks went 0-5 in their opportunities, while the Monsters went 1-3, which was good enough for the win.  Jamie Lundmark netted the game-winning shot.

Tyler Weiman picked up his second win in goal against the Americans this season.  He posted 25 saves on 28 shots. His counterpart Tyler Plante had 26 saves on 29 shots for Rochester.

Lake Erie now holds a 2-1 advantage over the Amerks in their season series.  After losing in Rochester on November 23rd, the Monsters won in Cleveland on December 29th, followed by Friday's win in New York.  The two teams will come back to Cleveland on Saturday to wrapup their back-to-back home-and-home.