Monsters move into first place with win over Milwaukee

Three power play goals including two by David van der Gulik  and 27 saves from rookie goalie Calvin Pickard carried the Lake Erie Monsters (26-21-2-7) to a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals (25-22-3-3)  at Quicken Loans Arena. 

   van der Gulik’s two goals comes on the heels of his four-point (2g/2a) performance in Lake Erie’s 7-1 win over the same Admirals on Thursday.  Paul Carey earned an assist in Tuesday’s win, extending his point streak to eight games; his streak is currently the longest active one in the AHL. 

  van der Gulik hammered in a rebound from a Karl Stollery shot to give the Monsters a 1-0 lead on the power play at 8:02 of the first period, with Mike Sgarbossa also picking up an assist.

   Former Monster Chris Mueller capitalized on a Lake Erie defensive zone turnover with 2:10 left in the first period to tie the game at 1-1 for Milwaukee.

   After a scoreless second period in which Pickard made 14 saves, van der Gulik tipped a Cameron Gaunce point shot past Milwaukee goalie Magnus Hellberg for his second power play goal of the game, giving the Monsters a 2-1 lead at 5:26 of the third period.  Mike Connolly also gathered an assist on the play.

   At 17:46 of the third period, Bill Thomas beat Hellberg short-side on a rebound for a power play goal- his team-leading 19 ^th of the season- to extend the Monsters lead to 3-1.  Carey and Stollery assisted; Carey’s helper extends his point streak to eight games.

  Pickard is 15-12-5 with the win; he stopped 27 of 28 shots in net for the Monsters.  Hellberg saw a personal six-game win streak end in net; after stopping 31 of 34 shots, he is now 10-7-0 for Milwaukee.

The Monsters are back on the ice Saturday and Sunday for a weekend back-to-back, hosting Hamilton and Rochester, respectively.