The Rochester Americans dropped their eighth straight contest tonight, falling 7-2 to the Lake Erie Monsters at Quicken Loans Arena. With the loss, Rochester falls to 12-31-2-4 and has now dropped 24 of its last 26 contests. The game was the second leg of the home-and-home series between the two teams prior to the All-Star break.
Lake Erie’s Chris Stewart and T.J. Hensick each tallied three-point performances to earn first and second star honors, respectively. Mike Wall made 25 saves for the Monsters. Special teams for Lake Erie tonight was excellent, killing off five of six shorthanded opportunities and picking up a shorthanded and power-play goal.
David Brine and Dylan Hunter provided Rochester’s two goals, while goaltender Adam Dennis made six saves before being relieved by Tyler Plante, who had 12 saves.
David Brine put his team on the board at 8:11 of the opening frame to tally his seventh goal on the season. Mike Weber and Anthony Stewart each recorded assists on the play.
The Monsters came out flying in the second with goals by Stewart, Hensick and J.D. Corbin. Stewart, younger brother of Rochester’s Anthony Stewart, started the scoring spree at 1:32 to even score at one. He did so with helpers coming from Dale Purinton and former Amerks defenseman, Jeff Jillson. Lake Erie’s pulled ahead to a 2-1 lead with a goal from Hensick, with assists from David Jones and Jamie Lundmark. The Monsters increased their lead to 3-1 as Corbin struck just over a minute later to record his third of the season.
Rochesters Hunter responded midway through the second to cut Lake Erie’s lead to one. Mark Mancari was credited with the lone assist.
Lake Erie quickly extended the lead to 5-2 with a pair of goals from Philippe Dupuis and Darcy Campbell. The Monsters continued to roll in the third picking up two more goals to increase the lead to 7-2. Brad Richardson scored shorthanded to notch his third of the year, while Stewart struck again for his second of the evening. Newly acquired NHL veteran Jeff Friesen registered assist on both goals.