Three unanswered goals by Manchester and two assists from Patrick O’Sullivan helped the Monarchs defeat Lowell by a score of 3-1 on Wednesday night and move atop the Atlantic Division with a 16-10-6-1 record and 39 points.
Jason LaBarbera stopped 28 of 29 shots from the Devils earning his 15th victory on the year, ranking him second in the league in wins.
Jeff Giuliano, Mike Hoffman and defenseman T.J. Kemp also provided tallies for Manchester, who finished its four-game road trip with a 2-1-1-0 record.
Frank Doyle stopped 35 shots while Aaron Voros scored the lone goal for Lowell in the loss.
HAMILTON 3, MANITOBA 2 (SO)
Jaroslav Halak shut down the Moose for the last two periods and overtime as well as the shootout as Hamilton defeated Manitoba, 3-2, to take over first place in the North Division.
Halak, who also recorded an assist, stopped 28 of 30 shots on the night while goals from Duncan Milroy and Jonathan Ferland knotted the game at 2-2 heading into the third period.
After a scoreless third period and overtime, Mikhail Grabovski scored the game-winning goal in the fifth round of the shootout to give the Bulldogs the victory.
Nathan Smith and Alexandre Bolduc provided goals for Manitoba, which has had each of its last four games decided past regulation (1-0-1-2).
HOUSTON 4, CHICAGO 3 (SO)
Mattias Weinhandl recorded a goal and a pair of assists as Houston scored four straight goals in the shootout to defeat Chicago 4-3 at Allstate Arena.
Josh Harding stopped 38 of 41 shots in the contest while teammates Jason Morgan and Roman Voloshenko also tallied for the Aeros, who ended the Wolves’ four-game winning streak.
Darren Haydar and rookie Brett Sterling kept on streaking, as Haydar also recorded three points (1g, 2a) and Sterling scored in his eighth straight game for Chicago. Haydar now has 70 points on his 34-game scoring run; Sterling leads the AHL with 33 goals.
Cory Larose also added a goal and an assist on the night, giving him points in eight straight games.
MILWAUKEE 4, PEORIA 2
The Admirals came out firing, scoring the first four goals of the contest in a 4-2 win on the road against the Rivermen.
Pat Leahy tallied a goal and an assist while Cal O’Reilly and Rich Peverley, who has four points in his last two games and a 14-game scoring streak, each had a pair of helpers on the night for Milwaukee.
Karl Goehring had 37 saves for Milwaukee, who ended its three-game winless skid with the victory.
Charles Linglet scored both goals for Peoria.
OMAHA 4, SAN ANTONIO 3
Andrei Taratukhin scored a season-high four points, registering a pair of goals and assists, as Omaha defeated the Rampage by a score of 4-3 at the AT&T Center.
Eric Godard scored the game-winning shorthanded goal with 35 seconds left in regulation.
Knights defenseman Tim Hambly also tallied a personal best this season, scoring a goal and two assists while netminder Brent Krahn stopped all seven shots in the third period, coming in relief of Curtis McElhinney.
Jeff Taffe, who has a four-game scoring streak, led the Rampage with a goal and an assist on the night.
ALBANY 4, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 2
Four different players registered goals as Albany handed the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins their second straight loss for the first time this season.
Matt Murley tallied a goal and an assist and teammates Jeff Finger and Ben Guite each recorded two assists for Albany while netminder Tyler Weiman stopped 26 shots to give the River Rats their second straight win.
Daniel Carcillo and Kyle Brodziak registered goals in the loss for the Penguins.
HERSHEY 4, PHILADELPHIA 1
Maxime Daigneault stopped 37 of 38 shots for his third straight win as the Bears downed the Phantoms by a score of 4-1 in front of a capacity crowd of 10,685 fans at Giant Center.
The Bears, who are 9-1-3-3 on home ice this season, maintained their two-point lead atop the East Division.
Joey Tenute had a goal and an assist and Kyle Wilson, Chad Wiseman and Quintin Laing, who has five goals and 10 points on a six-game scoring streak, also tallied for Hershey on the night.
Tony Voce scored the lone Phantoms goal.
SYRACUSE 4, TORONTO 0
Tomas Popperle posted his second shutout of the year by stopping a season-high 41 shots in the Crunch’s 4-0 win at home over Toronto.
Joe Motzko scored a pair of goals on the power play and Janne Hauhtonen tallied a goal and an assist as Syracuse snapped a six-game winless skid.
Darcy Verot also registered a goal for the Crunch, who go on a six-game road trip beginning Dec. 30.
SPRINGFIELD 3, HARTFORD 1
Norm Milley tallied a pair of power-play goals 37 seconds apart while teammate Marek Kvapil had a goal and an assist for the Falcons in a 3-1 win over visiting Hartford.
Eric Healey had a pair of assists while netminder Karri Ramo stopped a season-high 43 shots for Springfield, who move into a third-place tie in the Atlantic Division.
Rookie Ryan Callahan scored the only goal for Hartford with two-tenths of a second left in the first period, his 20th of the season.
NORFOLK 6, PROVIDENCE 3
Adam Burish registered four assists and posted a plus-3 rating as Norfolk won its third straight home game, 6-3 over Providence.
Adam Berti scored a pair of goals and added an assist while teammate Colin Fraser also tallied three points, recording a goal and two assists on the night for the Admirals, who have won six of their last seven.
Bryan Bickell had a goal and an assist while Admirals goaltender Corey Crawford stopped 38 of 41 shots for his league-leading 18th win on the year.
T.J. Trevelyan led the P-Bruins, who have dropped five of their last six games, with a goal and an assist in the loss.
