Amerks Score First Three, Then Blow It

The Rochester Americans lost their seventh straight contest tonight, dropping a shootout 4-3 decision to the Lake Erie Monsters. Lake Erie’s Phillipe Dupuis was the only player to convert in the shootout. With the loss, Rochester falls to 12-30-2-4 and has now lost 23 of its last 25 contests. Stefan Meyer (2+0) and Dylan Hunter (0+2) paced Rochester’s offense as each tallied two-point performance to earn first and third honors, respectively. Rookie netminder Tyler Plante turned away 26 saves in the losing effort for the Amerks. The Amerks came out flying in the first period, scoring three goals within three minutes to provide a 3-0 lead over the Monsters. Meyer struck twice to notch his 15th and 16th goals to regain the team lead. Drew Larman rounded out the scoring for the Amerks just under a minute later with his fifth goal on the year. The Monsters erased a 3-0 first-period deficit to tie the game at three on goals by Chris Stewart, David Jones and Dupuis. The Monsters got on the board at 1:40 of the second period when Stewart, younger brother of Amerk Anthony Stewart, snapped a shot past Plante. Lake Erie cut the lead to one on a power-play goal by Jones. He scored off a goal-mouth scramble at 5:10. Dupuis tied the contest at three on a great individual effort at 13:06. Meyer almost completed the hat trick with less than three minutes to play in the second, but Monsters goaltender Tyler Weiman kicked out his right pad to make the save. After a scoreless third period and extra frame, Dupuis secured the win for the visiting Monsters, scoring the only goal in the shootout. Rochester will head to Cleveland to complete the series on Saturday, January 26th in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Quicken Loans Arena.