Haydar scores a natural hat trick, including a power-play tally with less than one second left in overtime, as the Wolves defeat the Monsters, 6-5.
View full sizeDarren HaydarCLEVELAND, Ohio — Chicago Wolves right winger Darren Haydar inflicted three layers of pain on his most recent former team Friday night at The Q.
The veteran Haydar scored a natural hat trick, including a power-play tally with less than one second left in overtime, as the Wolves defeated the Monsters, 6-5.
Haydar ranked second on the Monsters last season with 64 points in 66 games. Chicago signed the AHL's reigning player of the decade in July.
"For me, it was just another game where I'm trying to find my way," Haydar said. "We had a great group of guys last year. Obviously, I wish things would have worked out differently with [parent] Colorado, but they didn't. Hockey's a business, and I moved on."
Lake Erie (5-5-1-1) squandered leads of 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2.
Haydar's game-winner was set up by a Kevin Montgomery hooking penalty at 4:32 of overtime. "There was no need for that call, but you've got to kill the penalty," Quinn said.
Haydar beat goalie Trevor Cann from the slot to push the Wolves to 6-4-1-0.
"It was a knuckler that went five-hole," Haydar said.
Lake Erie lost despite three power-play goals in the first period.
At 3:42 of the first, Wolves center Angelo Esposito received a game misconduct for the elbow infraction. It meant the Monsters, barring a penalty of their own, had five minutes to score as many goals as possible with a man-advantage.
Lake Erie cashed in the first time at 4:57, when defenseman Ray Macias punched in a rebound. Credit Mark Olver and Ryan Stoa got the assists.
The Macias tally snapped his club's skid on the power play at 0-for-24. The Monsters entered the night 1-for-41; the 2.4 percent efficiency ranked last in the AHL.
After Matthew Ford scored on the power play Oct. 17 at San Antonio, Lake Erie was blanked in such situations for seven straight games.
Stoa's redirect of a Joel Chouinard shot at 6:12 made it 2-0. Macias also earned an assist.
The crowd, already excited, went positively wild when center Mike Carman beat goalie Peter Mannino from the left circle at 7:58. Chouinard had the assist.
The Monsters answered relatively quickly with center Ben Walter's third of the season. Walter extended his points streak to six games.
The Wolves pulled within 4-2 later in the first. Between periods, Wolves coach Don Lever replaced Mannino with Edward Pasquale.
The Monsters restored a three-goal cushion in the second period, then Chicago got busy. The Wolves scored the final two goals of the second courtesy of Akim Aliu (13:47) and Haydar (16:39).