Hugh Jessiman’s second period goal - his fourth in two games - proved to be the game-winner for the Lake Erie Monsters (15-15-1-1) in a 2-1 victory over the North Division-leading Toronto Marlies (16-12-3-1) on Thursday. A crowd of 9,286 at Quicken Loans Arena saw the Monsters pick up their second straight win and fourth in the last six games. Justin Mercier also scored for the Monsters, giving him five points in his last five games. Trevor Cann stopped 25 of 26 shots to earn the win in net; his seventh victory of the season.

Mercier opened the scoring for the Monsters at the 10:25 mark of the first period when he chased a Zach Cohen rebound and pushed the puck over the goal line to give the Monsters a 1-0 lead. Eric Hunter also assisted on the goal. The goal was Mercier’s seventh of the season and second in as many games.

Toronto captain Ryan Hamilton tied the game with 1:07 remaining in the first period when he received a pass in the goal mouth area from Matt Caruana; the tap-in goal was also assisted by Josh Engel.

Jessiman carried the puck from behind the Marlies net to the left circle and unleashed a turnaround wrist shot that beat Marlies goalie Ben Scrivens to give the Monsters a 2-1 lead at 9:41 of the second period. The goal was Jessiman’s 15th over his last 20 games, and his team-leading 16th goal of the season. Dean Strong earned the assist, his second in as many games.

Cann improved to 7-10-0 on the season. Scrivens is 7-6-0 after stopping nine of 11 shots in the loss.

The Monsters next game is Saturday in Hamilton against the Bulldogs, with the puck drop scheduled for 3:00 PM. The team will return home to The Q next Wednesday, January 4th, against Oklahoma City.

NOTES: The Monsters are 4-2-0-0 against the Marlies this season, and 3-0-0-0 against them at Quicken Loans Arena this season… The Monsters have played six consecutive games against North Division opponents, and they are 4-2-0-0 over the six games… Cann made his first start in net since a 3-2 home loss to Grand Rapids on 12/16; his previous start before that was 12/5 in Charlotte, a 32-save victory for Cann… Zach Cohen’s assist was his first assist and first point of the season… Jessiman is tied for fourth in the AHL in goals with 16.