Trailing by three goals to start the third period, the Lake Erie Monsters (16-16-1-1) scored twice in the final frame, but saw their comeback attempt fall just short in a 3-2 loss to the league-leading Oklahoma City Barons (23-8-1-3) at Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday. Patrick Bordeleau scored his second goal in as many games and Hugh Jessiman tallied his team-leading 17th goal of the season for the Monsters.

Ryan Keller poked in the rebound of a Ryan O’Marra shot to give the Barons a 1-0 lead just 12 seconds into the hockey game, and 12:03 later O’Marra scored a goal of his own to extend Oklahoma City’s lead to 2-0. The Barons outshot the Monsters 15-3 in the first 20 minutes.

Oklahoma City took a 3-0 lead in the second period when Philippe Cornet made a diving effort to slap a rebound past Monsters goalie Trevor Cann at the 11:50 mark. Oklahoma City again outshot Lake Erie, 11-3, in the second.

After being outshot 26-6 in the first two periods, the Monsters controlled almost all aspects of the third period. They outshot the Barons 16-10 in the final frame and broke the shutout of Barons goalie Yann Danis 29 seconds into the period when Jessiman scored his team-leading 17th goal. Jessiman pushed a puck over the goal line following a scrum in front of the Barons net, with Ryan Stoa and Evan Brophey registered the assists.

At the 16:07 mark of the third, the Monsters pulled to within a goal when Bordeleau batted home the rebound of a Tyson Barrie shot to cut the Barons lead to 3-2. Mike Carman also assisted on the goal, which was Bordeleau’s second of the season and second in as many games.

Despite late scoring chances with the extra attacker on the ice, the Monsters were unable to tie the game. Oklahoma City, who boasted the second-best power play in the league entering the contest, was unable to convert in seven tries with the man-advantage against the Monsters penalty kill.

Cann stopped 33 of 36 shots in the loss; he is 8-11-0. Danis is 15-5-1 after turning away 20 of 22 Monsters shots.

The Monsters begin a five-game road swing Friday night against the Milwaukee Admirals. The puck drops Friday night at 8:00 PM Eastern, and the game can be heard on ESPN 850 WKNR.

NOTES: The Monsters three-game win streak snaps with Wednesday’s loss; twice this season, the Monsters have won three straight games… The Monsters are now 2-7-0-0 against the West Division… Hugh Jessiman has 16 goals in his last 22 games; the Monsters are 12-9-0-1 in those games… Mike Carman has assists in back-to-back games… Adrian Foster returned to the Monsters lineup, playing his first game since 10/26/11; he had a shot on goal and four penalty minutes… Brad Malone saw his first action with the Monsters after a nine-game call-up to the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche; he hadn’t played a game for the Monsters since 12/5/11.