Game report provided by the Monarchs, LA Kings AHL affiliate…
MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs extended their winning streak to four games and shutout the Providence Bruins, 3-0, at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Wednesday night.
Manchester (21-17-2-2) is in second place in the Atlantic Division with 46 points. The Bruins (20-16-0-3) are in third place in the Atlantic Division with 43 points.
“He (Martin Jones) made two stellar saves; I haven’t seen saves like that in a long time,” said Monarchs Head Coach Mark Morris. “The pad save early on in the game and that glove save with a wide open net, that kid is going to have nightmares. But that game was a lot closer than three nothing. I thought that our bounce back in the second period was a welcomed sign for us. We weren’t very good in the first, had a lot of turnovers, didn’t generate a whole lot of time in their zone but from the second period on, I felt like we did a good job of staying on pucks and we were able to find a way to plow a few goals.”
Monarchs center Linden Vey opened up the scoring at 6:48 of the second period. Left wing Tanner Pearson carried the puck into Providence’s zone down the right wing and chipped it over a Bruins defenseman into the right wing corner. Pearson was tied up by the defenseman in a battle for the puck when right wing Tyler Toffoli scooped the puck out from behind the net and played it to Vey in the slot. Vey took an initial shot that was denied by Bruins netminder Michael Hutchinson but he collected his own rebound and slid it past Hutchinson along the left post for the eventual game-winning goal and his 10th tally of the season.
The Monarchs continued the scoring at 7:49 of the second period with a goal from left wing Marc-Andre Cliche making the score 2-0. Monarchs right wing Brian O’Neill skated the puck into the Bruin’s zone down the left wing and cut back toward the middle of the ice. O’Neill played the puck back to Cliche in between the top of the face-off circles. Cliche let a wrist shot go beating Hutchinson with a sniper in the top right corner of the net. Defenseman Bryan Rodney also tallied an assist on Cliche’s eighth goal of the season.
Right wing Anthony Stewart capped of the scoring with his first marker of the season with 58.4 seconds left in regulation. Stewart skated the puck into the neutral zone and let it go passed Bruin defensemen and into the open net. Cliche and right wing Stefan Legein both recorded assists on the goal that brought the final score to 3-0.
Jones (11-13-2) earned his fourth shutout and 11th victory of the season stopping all 42 shots. Hutchinson (4-10-1) took his 10th loss of the season making 21 saves on 23 shots.
Manchester went 0-for-3 on the power play. Providence was 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
Notables: The Monarchs are 4-0 since the lockout ended on Saturday, January, 12…Right wing Anthony Stewart made his Monarchs debut with an empty net goal at 19:01 of the third period…Right wing Brian O’Neill has five assists in his last five games.
The Monarchs return to action on Friday with a road game vs. the today vs. the Connecticut Whale, AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers.
If you missed Jones on a recent edition of the MayorsManor show, click here to see what he had to say about his development as an LA Kings prospect, this year’s Manchester roster and his thoughts on other Kings’ goalies.
