When teams talk about earning a ‘hard fought point’ they can now use Tuesday night’s Monarchs games as exhibit number one.
Manchester spotted their opponent leads of 3-0 and 4-1 before the offense started cranking things up. First to tally a goal for the Monarchs was Colton Yellow Horn – playing in just his second AHL game after dazzling the ECHL while scoring 36 goals in 48 games for the Ontario Reign this season. Then, Kings’ prospects Brandon Kozun, Andrew Campbell and Tanner Pearson added third period markers to force overtime. For good measure, the two teams went on to battle eight rounds deep into a shootout before deciding the eventual winner.
If the line of Kozun, Yellow Horn and Jordan Weal can continue what they showed vs. the Bruins, look for the Monarchs to have a potent one-two punch along with their other line of Pearson, Linden Vey and Tyler Toffoli.
Check out the highlights…
Game report provided by the Monarchs, LA Kings AHL affiliate…
MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs scored three goals in the third period but lost in a shootout against the Providence Bruins, 5-4, on their third annual Pink In The Rink game at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Tuesday night.
Manchester (21-22-2-3) is in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with 47 points. The Bruins (27-17-0-3) are in second place in the division with 57 points.
“We got a lot out of our guys in the third period,” said Monarch Head Coach Mark Morris. “The second period put us in a hole. We spent a lot of energy in that period. I credit our guys for hanging in there and battling back. We did all we could until the shootout. We just needed a save.”
Right wing Jamie Tardif, center Carter Camper, left wing Carter Cunningham, center Trent Whitfield and defenseman Torey Krug beat Monarchs goaltender Martin Jones in the shootout. Center Ryan Spooner, center Maxime Sauve, and right wing Graham Mink were denied by Jones in the shootout. Center Jordan Weal, right wing Tyler Toffoli, left wing Colton Yellow Horn and right wing Brandon Kozun scored on Bruins netminder Niklas Svedberg in the shootout. Svedberg denied left wing Tanner Pearson, center Linden Vey, left wing Andy Andreoff and center Robbie Czarnik in the shootout.
The Bruins opened the scoring with a goal by defenseman Matt Bartkowski at 6:18 of the first period. Bartkowski intercepted a pass in between the top of the face-off circles and skated into the left wing face-off circle where he wristed a shot high on the glove side of Jones burying his third goal of the season.
Spooner scored on the power play to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead at 4:06 of the second period. Tardif carried the puck behind the Monarchs cage before sending a pass to Spooner inside the right wing face-off circle. Spooner wristed a shot into the net for the goal. Krug recorded an assist on Spooner’s 10th goal of the season.
Tardif scored on the power play at 8:14 of the second period making the score 3-0. Krug took a pass from Tardif before entering the Monarchs zone on the left wing. Krug skated down the left wing and behind the Monarchs net. Krug fed Tardif on the left doorstep who immediately took a shot that Jones denied. Tardif’s rebound went into the air and was batted in by Tardif who had followed his own rebound. Camper also tallied an assist on Tardif’s 24th goal of the season.
Yellow Horn scored to cut the Monarchs deficit to 3-1 at 12:20 of the second period. Yellow Horn skated down left wing in the Bruins zone and dropped the puck back to Weal in the left wing face-off circle. Weal skated in before wristing a shot that bounced off Svedberg landing in the crease. Yellow Horn came in and banged the puck into the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
Mink made the score 4-1 with a goal at 12:43 of the second period. Center Christian Hanson took a feed from Krug on the right doorstep. Hanson faded into the right wing face-off circle and fired a pass in front of the net. Krug redirected the pass for his second goal of the season.
Kozun scored on the power play at 4:55 of the third period to cut the Monarchs deficit to 4-2. Weal carried the puck to the bottom of the left wing face-off circle and sent a pass intended for Kozun in the right wing face-off circle. Yellow tipped the puck in front of the net to Kozun who finished the play burying his 12th goal of the season.
Monarchs defenseman Andrew Campbell cut the deficit to 4-3 with a goal at 5:44 of the third period. Andreoff fed a pass from the bottom of the right wing face-off circle to left wing David Meckler in between the top of the face-off circles. Meckler fanned on the one-timer but the puck traveled to the left point. Campbell jumped on the puck and took a slap shot that beat Svedberg for his first goal of the season.
Monarchs tied the game at 16:46 of the third period with a goal by Pearson. Vey played the puck in front of the benches to Pearson who broke in on the left wing. Pearson wristed a shot from inside the left wing face-off circle that beat Svedberg high on the glove side. Campbell also recorded an assist Pearson’s 11th goal of the season.
Jones (7-16-3) took his third shootout loss of the season stopping 22-of-26 shots in regulation and overtime, and stopped three of eight shootout attempts. Svedberg (22-6-2) earned his 22nd win of the season making 27 saves on 31 shots in regulation and overtime, and stopped four of eight shootout attempts..
Manchester went 1-for-8 on the power play. Providence was 2-for-5 with the man advantage.
Notables: The Monarchs are on a six-game winless streak (0-5-0-1)…Monarchs left wing Colton Yellow Horn scored his first career American Hockey League goal…Monarchs defenseman Andrew Campbell scored his first goal since November 19, 2011.
The Monarchs will play the St. John’s IceCaps this Friday and Saturday, in what could be an interesting match-up in goal. It appears Chris Carrozzi has been called up by St. John’s, so he could face off with former teammate JF Berube if Manchester gives him a start. They were together for most of the last two years – inlcluding up until about a week ago – playing for Ontario in the ECHL.
If you missed Tanner Pearson on a the MayorsManor show last week, click here to see what he had to say about his development as an LA Kings prospect, what the Monarchs miss about Jake Muzzin, some off-ice stories about his linemates Toffoli and Vey, plus much more.
Is the Jordan Weal evaluation still coming or did I miss it? Thanks!