Visiting Lake Erie may have struck first, but Grand Rapids struck often on Friday. The Monsters fell, 5-1, to the Griffins in the last of six straight road games for Lake Erie.  The Monsters are now 1-1-0-1 against the North Division rival Griffins so far this season.

Aaron MacKenzie got the scoring started for the Monsters at the 7:53 mark of the first period when he converted helpers from Brian Willsie and Nathan Smith.  It was MacKenzie's second straight game with a goal and his second of the season.  Willsie leads Lake Erie with seven assists on the team, and his 11 points leads all current players on the team. Smith's assist was his fourth on the year.

Lake Erie would finish the first period with the 1-0 advantage.  However, it would not take long after the intermission for Grand Rapids to take over.

Just 1:47 into the second frame, Jamie Tardif evened the game for the Griffins.  He was assisted by Evan McGrath.

Less than four minutes later, Grand Rapids would take the lead with Darren Haydar's goal at 5:19 of the second.  Landon Wilson and Darren Helm were given the assists on the power play score.

A full period would go by with the score remaining 2-1 in favor of the home team.

Helm would start an offensively-productive third period for the Griffins with his goal at the 5:35 point of the stanza.  Logan Pyett and Jan Mursak were credited with the helpers.

Wilson added to the Grand Rapids lead with a power play score of his own at 12:16 of the third period.  He was assisted by Haydar and Garrett Stafford. 

With jus a few minutes remaining, Francis Pare sealed the 5-1 win for the Griffins with his goal at the 17:09 mark, assisted by Sergei Kolosov and Evan McGrath.

Jason Bacashihua was in Lake Erie's goal for the loss, recording 30 saves on 35 shots.  Across the ice, Jimmy Howard deflected 28 of the 29 shots he faced on the night.

The Monsters are now 4-6-0-1 and will return home to host the Hamilton Bulldogs on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.  The game will be televised on MY43 WUAB.