The Lake Erie Monsters made history Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, yielding a franchise-low 15 shots to the visiting Milwaukee Admirals en route to a 3-0 win. Led by T.J. Hensick’s 13th multi-point effort (1G, 1A) and Tyler Weiman’s third shutout of the season, the Monsters improved to 25-24-0-4 and moved into fourth place in the North Division, which represents the final playoff spot in the North. With the loss, the Admirals dropped to 29-18-1-5.

With Wednesday’s win, Lake Erie has won three of the past four games and has gone 17-8-0-1 since December 13th.

Regulation’s first 20 minutes went by without score, as Monsters goalie Tyler Weiman turned away six shots from the Admirals and Chet Pickard stopped 11 shots from Lake Erie.

After a tight first period, Josh Aspenlind would open the scoring with his first goal of the year midway through the middle frame at the 10:38 mark. Skating up the left wall, Tom Zanoski got inside the Admirals zone, deked around a Milwaukee defender and put the puck on the stick of a streaking Aspenlind, who deflected the rubber disc past Pickard’s glove.

Less than three minutes later, at the 13:04 mark of the second, Ray Macias would put the Monsters up by two with his second of the season. Skating into the Milwaukee zone with the puck on the wall, Hensick pulled up, waiting for his teammates to join the rush. Seeing Macias skate down the slot toward the net, Hensick threw a puck in front that Macias kicked to his stick. Alone in front of the net in a one-on-one with Pickard, Macias deked to the forehand and tucked in the puck past the leg of the outstretched Admirals goalie. Wes O’Neill picked up the second assist on the goal.

Before the second period would come to a close, the Monsters would go up by three on Hensick’s 13th goal of the season, scored on the power play with 28 seconds remaining in the middle frame. Taking a pass behind the net from Brian Willsie, Randy Rowe spotted Hensick parked to Pickard’s left. Pushing the puck in front to his teammate, Rowe watched from behind the net as Hensick buried a one-timer through Pickard’s fivehole, putting the Monsters up 3-0. With the assist, Rowe has recorded points in his first three games back from injury, notching five points (3G, 2A) in that span while Willsie put up a point for the fifth consecutive game and has totaled six points (2G, 4A) in those contests.

The offensive outburst in the second period was fueled by the Monsters outshooting the Admirals 13-1. Taking a three-goal lead into the third, Lake Erie and goalie Tyler Weiman would buckle down defensively, as the Monsters goalie turned away eight shots from the Admirals in the final frame en route to preserving the 3-0 shutout win.

“We played very well tonight,” said Monsters head coach David Quinn. “It was really a great team effort and I would be hard pressed to find a guy who didn’t have a good night. I just love our alertness, I love how we’re communicating and I love how we’re skating.”

Weiman ended the night making 15 saves in the shutout victory while Pickard turned away 24 of 27 shots in the defeat.

The Monsters return to the ice Friday when they host the Hamilton Bulldogs at The Q at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (216) 420-0000, by visiting LakeErieMonsters.com or by visiting any Northern Ohio Discount Drug Mart.

Sights and Sounds

Head Coach David Quinn Interview   Tyler Weiman Postgame Interview