It's never a good sign for a team when the most enjoyable part of a game for its fans is getting to throw stuffed animals.
Todd Stumpf
Special to The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's never a good sign for a team when the most enjoyable part of a game for its fans is getting to throw stuffed animals.
The second annual Chuck-a-Bear night was a smashing success for the Monsters on Saturday. The rest of the evening, not so much.
Lake Erie surrendered six goals over the final 24 minutes in a 7-4 loss to the Toronto Marlies before a crowd of 7,451 at the Q. It was the fourth consecutive loss for Lake Erie, which will get a chance to bounce back Sunday at 3 p.m. against Houston.
"We kind of got away from things we usually do," said center Patrick Rissmiller, downplaying the losing streak. "It's a long year. Tonight was one of those nights. I think we've been playing good hockey overall."
The Marlies, named after Toronto's old junior hockey club, the Marlboros, smoked the Monsters for four goals in a six-minute stretch spanning the second and third periods. Lake Erie led, 2-1, after a period. That score held up for the first 15 minutes of the second.
During that stretch, though the Marlies hadn't scored, Monsters coach David Quinn could see the tide shifting.
"They were starting to hem us in a little bit," he said. "It seemed like we stopped being physical and we stopped being patient in the offensive zone. Next thing you know we start their transition and we were spending more time in our end than we liked."
A pair of goals by Marcel Mueller over the final 4:11 of the second gave Toronto a 3-2 lead. Mueller's second came just as a power play was ending. The Monsters finished the period on a power play and still had a minute of that advantage to start the third. Quinn hoped his squad would fix its issues during the break.
Instead, Toronto poured it on. A goal by Simon Gysbers three minutes in pushed the Marlies' edge to 4-2. Just 90 seconds later Mueller completed his hat trick.
Quinn was upset the Monsters didn't rebound in the final period.
"Especially with the power play to start the period, and we never got anything going with the power play," he said. "Then they get their goal to make it 4-2 and it was just real disappointing."
Mueller's third goal resulted in the Monsters pulling goalie Jason Bacashihua. That was an easier move than benching the team in front of him.
"Cash played unbelievable up in Abbotsford on Wednesday," Quinn said. "He just didn't seem like he was on his game tonight. We were a little bit sluggish. It was a combination of things why I took him out."
The Monsters (12-11-2-4) entered the night with a chance of overtaking Toronto (15-10-0-3) in the North Division standings. Instead Lake Erie fell three points behind the third-place Marlies.
It didn't take long for the Monsters to initiate the bear toss. Fans brought the stuffed animals as part of a charity to benefit the Salvation Army and Providence House, with instructions to toss them onto the ice after the Monsters' first goal.
That came just 3:19 into the contest when Curtis Fraser scored. Christian Hanson tied things for Toronto before the Monsters' Julian Talbot scored the first of his two goals to make it a 2-1 Lake Erie heading into the second period.
Talbot's second goal, after the Marlies' barrage, pulled Lake Erie within 5-3, but Toronto's Korbinian Holzer scored 90 seconds later. The Monsters' Luke Walker and Toronto's Alex Foster scored the final two goals.
Todd Stuff is a freelance writer based in Rittman, Ohio.