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In their second game against the Rochester Americans this season, the Lake Erie Monsters lost, 3-1, Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena. Lake Erie got on the board first, but was unable to respond to three Rochester goals, two of which were scored in the third period.

Chris Durno scored the Monsters lone goal of the game with his sixth tally of the season at 11:17 of the first period. With the goal, Durno now leads the team in points with 15. Cradling the puck behind the Rochester net, defenseman Mike Vernace spotted Durno to the right of Rochester goalie Mike Brodeur. With his head up, Vernace fed the Monsters forward and in one motion Durno one-timed the puck past Brodeur to give the Monsters a 1-0 lead. Marty Sertich earned the second helper on the goal.

The scoreboard would go cold for awhile after Durno’s tally, as the next goal would be scored midway through the second frame. Standing behind Monsters goaltender Jason Bacashihua in the crease, Rochester forward Michael Duco found an early Christmas gift in the form of a puck at his feet, mere inches from the goal. Duco easily tapped the puck into the yawning net, tying the game at 11:30 of the second.

The Americans would take the lead at 7:52 of the third on Jacob Micflikier’s second goal of the season. The goal was the game’s only power play marker.

Rochester would pad their lead three minutes later on David Brine’s second goal of the year. Seconds after the Monsters killed off a penalty, Brine snapped a shot past the blocker of Bacashihua from the faceoff dot to the left of the Monsters goalie, putting Rochester up, 3-1.

“I don’t know if we took this team lightly or if we thought it was going to be an easier game, but it certainly wasn’t,” said head coach Joe Sacco. “They came out and played very hard and played very well and just outworked us. They deserved to win the game.”

The Monsters will come back to The Q on Sunday to host the Peoria Rivermen for the fourth and final regular season contest between the teams at 5:00 p.m.

“Tomorrow is a chance to respond from our effort tonight,” said Sacco. “We have not had a game like that in a while because we have been pretty consistent with our efforts. Tonight was the first game where we were not working the way we should have been.”

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Coach Joe Sacco Interview

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"The disappointing part is that it was such a big game tonight because it gives us a chance to close the gap on Syracuse with some games in hand. We are still in it, there is a long way to go but we can’t give away points like we did tonight.” - Head Coach Joe Sacco