DES MOINES, IA – Winners in six of their past seven games, Cleveland’s Lake Erie Monsters defeated the Iowa Wild on Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, IA by a final score of 3-2.
With the win, the Monsters’ fourth consecutive victory, Lake Erie improved to 10-3-0-2 overall this season and with a .733 points percentage, remain alone in second place in the AHL’s Central Division standings.
The Wild claimed a 1-0 lead on Saturday when Andrew Yogan scalded a sharp-angle slapper past Monsters goaltender Anton Forsberg at 13:28 of the opening frame. Lake Erie wasted no time in responding, however, as Ryan Craig received a slick drop pass from Alex Broadhurst and Daniel Zaar less than one minute later to tie the game at one heading into the first intermission.
Iowa pulled ahead just 50 seconds into the middle frame when Grayson Downing posted his fourth of the season on the backhand, but late in the second, Zaar took an end-wall feed from Craig and Broadhurst and buried a buzzer-beating tally with just 2.1 seconds left to knot the game at two heading into the final period of regulation.
Only one day removed from signing a PTO with the Monsters, Lake Erie winger Derek DeBlois poked home his first marker of the season at 7:57, an even-strength goal assisted by Justin Falk and T.J. Tynan that lifted the Monsters to victory by a 3-2 final score.
Forsberg improved to 6-2-0 on the season by virtue of a 19-save performance while Iowa’s Jeremy Smith took the loss, his AHL-leading eighth of the year, despite stopping 35 Monsters shots.
Next up for the Monsters, it’s a Sunday road tilt vs. the Rockford IceHogs with full coverage underway at 5:00 pm, live from the BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford, IL.
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