After playing 12 of 14 games at home, the Monsters began a stretch of games Wednesday against the Toronto Marlies that will have them play seven of their next eight games on the road. Right now, the team is in the middle of playing four straight games away from home, including back-to-back-to-back games this weekend.

On Wednesday, the Monsters were on the wrong end of a 5-4 shootout loss to the Marlies. The loss was the first to their North Division foes so far this season, as the team has played Toronto five times and racked up a 4-0-0-1 record against the Marlies.

In the game, the Monsters received multi-point efforts from Chris Durno (2G, 1A), Marty Sertich (3A) and Phil Dupuis (2A). Chris Durno’s three-point effort, his fourth multi-point performance of the season, has propelled the Monsters power forward to the top of the points list on the team with 19 (8G, 11A). Durno also leads the team in goals, assists, power play goals and shots.

The Monsters travel to Rochester Friday to play the Americans at Blue Cross Arena at War Memorial at 7:35 p.m. So far this season, Lake Erie is 0-2 against the Americans. The team’s first loss against Rochester came November 28th, in Rochester, when the Monsters lost, 2-1. In that game, Lake Erie’s lone goal came from the stick of rookie Chris Mueller. The goal was his first of the season. Rochester right wing Michal Repik scored the game-winner. In the second game between the teams, December 13th at The Q, Lake Erie lost, 3-1. Chris Durno scored the Monsters only goal and Rochester forward Jacob Micflikier scored what would be the eventual game-winner.

After Friday’s game, the Monsters will continue their tour of western New York in Syracuse to play the Crunch at 7:30 p.m. The two teams have yet to play against each other this year, but the Monsters were 3-3-2-0 last year against the Crunch. The teams next meeting is slated for January 3rd at Quicken Loans Arena.

The final stand of the four game trip ends Sunday in Hershey, PA. The Monsters will play the AHL’s best team, the Hershey Bears, at 5:00 p.m. The Bears are currently atop the AHL with a 20-7-0-1 record and 41 points. The Bears have also scored a league-high 115 goals. This is the first meeting between the teams this year and the Monsters were 1-1 against Hershey last year. The Bears come to The Q March 8th for the second and final meeting of the regular season between the clubs.

The Monsters return to The Q one more time before the New Year as the team hosts the Toronto Marlies at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 26th.