After playing their last seven consecutive games on the road, the Lake Erie Monsters returned to Quicken Loans Arena to host the Manitoba Moose on Friday night. The Monsters built a convincing two-goal lead in the second period, but Manitoba scored five straight goals and rallied for a 6-3 victory over Lake Erie.

The Monsters now hold a record of 1-1-0-0 on home ice, while their overall record stands at 3-5-0-1.

After a scoreless first period, the Monsters netted two goals in a span of 42 seconds in the second period. At 2:17, Mark Olver picked off a Manitoba pass inside the Lake Erie blue line and snapped a shot into the top right corner of the net. Olver’s goal was his third in four games since being reassigned by the Colorado Avalanche on October 19th.

At the 2:59 mark, Zach Cohen notched his first of the season when he buried a rebound to put Lake Erie up 2-0. Cohen was assisted by Cameron Gaunce and Curtis Fraser, who picked up his first point of the season.

Manitoba (5-2-0-0) answered at 5:12 of the second, when Marco Rosa converged on a one-time pass from rookie Jordan Schoeder. Lake Erie regained their two-goal lead at 6:19 when Greg Mauldin scored for his seventh point in nine games. On the goal, Ben Walter picked an assist for his fourth point in three games. Joel Chouinard, who was playing in his first game of the season, also assisted for his first point as a Monster.

Before the second period expired, Manitoba rattled off three straight goals to go ahead 4-3 and take their first lead of the game. Shawn Weller scored at 8:22 and Joel Perrault tied the game at 3-3 by scoring on a close-range rebound at 17:55. Weller was assisted by Nolan Baumgartner and Perrault, while Perrault was assisted by Kevin Connauton and Kevin Clark.

With 48 seconds remaining in the frame, Cody Hodgson took a drop pass from Sergei Shirokov and rifled a slap shot into the top left corner of the net from the right point.

In the third period, the Moose pushed their final lead to three goals. Stefan Schnieder’s tally at 12:57 made the score 5-3 and Shirokov scored at 15:22, finalizing a 6-3 score sheet. Clark picked up his second assist of the night on Schnieder’s goal and Hodgson assisted Shirokov for his second point of the night.

Lake Erie goaltender Jason Bacashihua stopped 15 of 21 shots faced, while former Monster Tyler Wieman turned aside 24 of 27 shots in goal for Manitoba.

Lake Erie will continue a three-in-three weekend when they travel to Toronto on Saturday for a 3 p.m. matinee with the Marlies. The Monsters will return to Quicken Loans Arena on Sunday for a 3 p.m. rematch with the Moose.

Three Stars: 1. MTB Hodgson (GW goal, 1 assist); 2. MTB Perrault (1 goal, 1 assist); 3. MTB Shirokov (1 goal, 1 assist)  

David Quinn Postgame Interview

Jason Bacashihua Postgame Interview