After opening their season 1-1 at Copps Coliseum, the Bulldogs hit the road and headed to Cleveland to take on the Lake Erie Monsters. The loss against the Monsters was not only their second straight loss… but also their second straight loss that ended in a shootout.
Brad Malone of the Monsters would open the scoring just after 18 minutes of play, for his third of the season. He
later put in his fourth of the season in the second period, counting for both goals for Lake Erie.
Malone’s first tally came on the powerplay after a tripping call on Greg Pateryn. Within the first two periods of the game the Bulldogs managed just
nine shots on net with no goals, to go into the third with the Monsters leading 2-0.
The third period was a huge change for the Bulldogs as they came out strong and managed to out shoot the Monsters 14-4. At 4:51 Nick Tarnasky connected with Gabriel Dumont and Joonas Nattinen for the Bulldogs first goal of the came and start off a third period comeback.
Hamilton was able to capitalize on the powerplay for the second straight game as Tarnasky
put in his second of the game with the man advantage. The goal came just about
five minutes after his first. It would be the last goal of the third, to end
regulation time tied at two apiece. The overtime was scoreless, sending
the teams to a shootout.
With three goals from Lake Erie during the shoot out the Dogs would fall to a
3-2 loss for their first road defeat of the 2013 season. The Bulldogs remain in third
place in the AHL’s North Division behind the Marlies and Monsters.
The Bulldogs went 1/6 with the man advantage while the Monsters were 1/4. Dustin Tokarski started in net
and took the loss for the Dogs, for his second game of the season. With 24 saves, his save percentage dropped to .934 moving him to 15th
in the league. As for his GAA, he’s currently ranked twelfth with a 1.92 average.
On the injury front, veterans Michael Blunden and Martin St. Pierre missed
this one. Both are considered day-to-day.
The Bulldogs continue their road trip as they head to Toronto to take on the Marlies on October 20th. They will be back at home on Tuesday when they host the Rockford IceHogs.
Shootout:
Lake Erie – Mike Sgarbossa – Goal
Hamilton – Gabriel Dumont – No Goal
Lake Erie – Mark Olver – No Goal
Hamilton – Maxime Macenauer – No Goal
Lake Erie – Bryan Lerg – Goal
Hamilton – Nick Tarnasky – No Goal
Lake Erie – Joey Hishon – Goal
3 Stars:
1 – Brad Malone (Lake Erie)
2 – Joey Hishon (Lake Erie)
3 – Nick Tarnasky (Hamilton)