Two first period goals from rookie defenseman Stefan Elliott - including the eventual game-winner - helped the Lake Erie Monsters (26-23-2-2) to a 3-1 win Saturday night over the Rochester Americans (23-20-6-3) before a crowd of 13,140 at Quicken Loans Arena. The victory was the first for the Monsters over Rochester this season; they had fallen to the Americans three times previously this season, including a 6-2 loss in New York on Friday in the first half of the weekend home-and-home series between the two teams.

Elliott's first goal- and the first goal of the game - came on a wrist shot from the center of the Rochester blue line that trickled over the goal line behind Americans netminder David Leggio. Cameron Gaunce and Zach Cohen factored into the even strength goal, Elliott's fourth of the season, at 12:18.

Less than two minutes later, Elliott scored on another wrist shot; this time from the top of the right circle. His second of the game, and fifth of the season, beat Leggio top-shelf, and was assisted by Luke Walker and goaltender Gerald Coleman.

At 8:56 of the second, Evan Brophey provided an insurance tally for the Monsters on the power play when he backhanded a loose puck from the front of the net past Leggio for his 14th of the season, giving the Monsters a 3-0 cushion. Brad Malone and Elliott assisted.

Rochester's Phil Varone scored a shorthanded breakaway goal at 11:25 of the third period to pull Rochester to within a pair of goals, but that would be all the offense they could muster.

Coleman rebounded after being pulled from Friday night's 6-2 loss in Rochester after giving up three goals in five minutes and stopped 29 of 30 shots, improving to 9-3-1. David Leggio falls to 15-15-1 for Rochester; he stopped 31 of 34.

The Monsters hit the ice next in Toronto on Monday afternoon at 1:00 PM. All the action between the Monsters and the North Division-leading Marlies can be heard on AM 1540 KNR2. The Monsters will return home on Thursday to host Hershey.

NOTES: With Elliott's two goals, he now has three over his last two games and has a three-game point streak going... The Monsters are now 10-2-2-0 when a defenseman scores a goal... Tonight's game saw the Monsters collectively spend 34 minutes in the box, and Rochester was assessed 47 minutes in penalties; a total that was short of the 86 combined penalty minutes assessed in Friday night's game between the two teams in Rochester... Greg Mauldin and Dean Strong each had four-game points streaks entering the game, and each streak was snapped... Patrick Rissmiller's four-game goal scoring streak came to a close, as did his Monsters season-best six-game point streak... Coleman has started 11 straight games in net for the Monsters; he is 8-2-1 in the 11 games; the longest streak of consecutive starts by a goalie in Monsters history.

Tonight's Call of the Game with Doug Plagens:

Photos from Saturday's win: