Photo by Lake Erie Monsters / Ben Hall

Scoresheet

Two Hamilton goals in the first period were the only tallies in the entire game, as the Lake Erie Monsters (26-22-2-7) were unable to erase the 2-0 deficit and fell by that score to the Hamilton Bulldogs (22-27-1-5) before a crowd of 10,011 at Quicken Loans Arena Saturday night. Paul Carey’s eight-game point streak, a season-long for a Monsters player, came to a close in the loss. Karl Stollery’s four-game point streak also snapped, while Calvin Pickard took the tough-luck loss in net after stopping 26 of 28 Hamilton shots.

After a series of quality scoring chances for the Monsters in the first period, it was Greg Pateryn’s shot from the Monsters blue line through traffic that gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead at 7:26 of the opening frame. With 1:05 left in the first period, Michael Bournival banged in a rebound to give Hamilton a 2-0 lead.

Despite outshooting Hamilton 31-28 in the game, and 14-6 in the third period, the Monsters were unable to put a puck by Bulldogs goalie Dustin Tokarski.

Pickard is 15-13-5 after stopping 26 of 28 in the loss, while Tokarski is 21-10-4 after stoping 31 shots for his fourth shutout this season, and first since joining Hamilton after starting the season in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization with the Syracuse Crunch.

The Monsters are back in action Sunday at 4:00 PM when they welcome the Rochester Americans to Quicken Loans Arena.

NOTES: Carey’s eight-game point streak comes to a close; he had five goals and five assists for 10 points over the streak… Stollery’s four-game point streak snaps with the loss; he had a goal and four assists over the four games… Mike Sgarbossa missed the game while serving a one-game suspension, but will be eligible to return Sunday… Monsters captain Brian Sutherby returned from injury in the loss; he had missed the last four games… Defenseman John Negrin, who previously played part of a Western Hockey League season for the Swift Current Broncos under Monsters Head Coach Dean Chynoweth, made his Monsters debut after being acquired this week… The Monsters were 0-5 on the power play and 3-3 on the penalty kill; the Monsters record when they are perfect on the penalty kill moves to 15-7-0-4.

Game Photos