Monsters Fall in Preseason Opener to Grand Rapids 5-1

BOWLING GREEN, OH – The Lake Erie Monsters, proud affiliate of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, were defeated by the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday at Bowling Green State University Ice Arena in Bowling Green, Ohio by a final score of 5-1 in the first of two 2015 AHL preseason games for the Monsters.

Lake Erie will travel to Windsor, Ontario on Saturday for a rematch with the Griffins at the WFCU Centre, home of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, at 7:00 p.m. to conclude the team’s 2015 Training Camp.

The Griffins leapt to an early 1-0 lead when Alden Hirschfeld provided an unassisted score from the left circle of the Lake Erie zone at 3:01 of the opening period.

Grand Rapids extended their edge to 2-0 just over five minutes later when Nathan Paetsch took advantage of a screen in front of Monsters goaltender Joonas Korpisalo and wired home his first of the preseason, a power-play goal at 8:18, assisted by Martin Frk and Jeff Hoggan.

Offense remained difficult to come by for the Monsters in the middle frame as the Griffins added a pair of goals, from Kurt Etchegary at 3:33 on the power-play and Frk at 7:07 at even strength, to push their lead to 4-0 heading into the final period of play.

In the third, Christian Isackson spoiled the Griffins’ shutout hopes at 17:05 when he tapped home his first of the preseason on a right-corner feed from Ben Wilson to make it 4-1 before Grand Rapids capped the scoring at 17:51 on an unassisted tally by Evan Rankin.

Korpisalo took the loss in net for Lake Erie despite a 16-save performance while Griffins goaltender Jared Coreau stopped 19 Monsters shots in victory.

Next up for the Monsters, it’s a Saturday rematch vs. the Griffins with the opening faceoff set for 7:00 p.m. at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario in Lake Erie’s final preseason action of 2015.