It was a night of firsts for the Lake Erie Monsters, as the team earned its first shootout victory of the season and beat the Iowa Chops for the first time this year and in franchise history by a 3-2 score on Monday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The first 20 minutes of the game went by without any score, but Monsters forward Randy Rowe gave Lake Erie the lead when he recorded his third goal of the season at the 3:01 mark of the second period. Captain Chris Durno registered his team-leading 18th assist of the season on Rowe’s marker, while defenseman Derek Peltier picked up the second assist on the goal.

Lake Erie would follow up Rowe’s tally less than five minutes later when center Phil Dupuis picked up his 11th goal of the season at the 8:20 mark of regulation’s middle frame. Forwards Tom Fritsche and Matt Hendricks registered assists on the score.

The two-goal lead for the Monsters wouldn’t last for long. Less than three minutes later, Chops forward T.J. Trevelyan picked up his 18th goal of the season, beating Monsters goalie Jason Bacashihua at the 10:49 mark of the second period. Forwards Petteri Wirtanen and Eric Boguniecki picked up assists on the goal.

The Monsters would carry their one-goal lead almost 15 minutes into regulation’s final frame, but Trevelyan would notch his 19th of the season to tie the game and force an overtime period. Defensemen Stu Bickel and Brendan Mikkelson picked up assists on the game-tying goal.

The five-minute overtime period would go without any scoring and both the Monsters and Chops would carry their respective 0-5 shootout records into the five-shooter contest with something having to give.

The first shooters for each club – Dupuis for the Monsters and Matt Beleskey for the Chops – would score. The next two shooters, Fritsche and Adrian Veideman, would be stopped. It would be the Monsters third shooter, Lake Erie assistant captain Matt Hendricks, who would score in the shootout and put the Monsters up, 2-1.

The next four shooters – T.J. Galiardi and Durno for the Monsters and Trevelyan and Brian Salcido for the Chops – would all be turned away. That left Bacashihua to face Chops sniper Drew Miller, the player who scored the game-winning goal in all three of Iowa’s three previous wins over the Monsters this season. However, Bacashihua was not fazed by the forward’s prior accomplishments, turning him away and leading the Monsters to their 22nd victory of the season.

Lake Erie will now play the seventh game of their nine game road trip when they visit the Quad City Flames at 8:05 p.m. on Wednesday.