MONROE, LA – The Monroe Moccasins ended their four-game losing streak Friday night, riding a strong offensive start to a 6–3 victory over the Twin City Thunderbirds at the Monroe Civic Center.
With the win, Monroe improved to 26-6-4-2-0 on the season and moved to 83 points, remaining just one point out of first place in the Continental Division. The Moccasins also improved to 16-4-1-1-0 on home ice and pushed their season goal total to 197. Twin City fell to 13-20-1-3-0 overall and dropped to 6-14-1-1-0 on the road.
Facing each other for the first time this regular season, Monroe established control early with three first-period goals. Casey Gerstein opened the scoring on the power play at 8:55, finishing off a rebound. Andrew Bellant doubled the lead at 11:37 off a feed from Ben Stefanin and Rasmus Asp followed at 14:32 to make it 3–0, ending an 11-game goal-scoring drought.
Twin City answered late in the opening frame with a power-play goal from Nate Keeley at 17:47, sending Monroe into the intermission ahead 3–1. The Moccasins extended the lead early in the second period when Hagan Moe scored at 2:24 to restore a three-goal lead. After Roman Kraemer pulled the Thunderbirds within two at 6:27, Monroe responded again.
Stefanini ended a 20-game scoring drought with a shorthanded goal at 8:58, finishing off a pass from Dean Balsamo on a 2 on 1. Just 25 seconds later, Gerstein struck again at 9:23 off assists from Yianni Liarakos, pushing the lead to 6–2. The assist marked Liarakos’ 300th career FPHL assist. Following the goal, Twin City goaltender Boris Babik was pulled in favor of Chad Purdy, who entered in relief in just his second FPHL appearance..
Twin City added a shorthanded goal from Jon Buttitta later in the second period, but Monroe tightened defensively the rest of the way. After allowing eight third-period goals during last weekend’s losing streak, the Moccasins held the Thunderbirds scoreless in the final frame to secure the win.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night at the Civic Center in the final game of the regular-season series, as Monroe looks to continue their push for 1st place.
source: Monroe Moccasins – Read More
