Lewis Leads Battle As Monarchs Dance With Wolves
December 8, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release
MANCHESTER, NH - Center Trevor Lewis scored his first professional hat trick as the Manchester Monarchs overcame the Chicago Wolves in a 7-4 victory in front of 6,108 fans at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Saturday night.
Manchester (10-11-2-1) is in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with 23 points. Chicago (17-6-1-0) is in first place in the West Division with 35 points.
Right wing Joey Crabb bit early as he tallied his third goal of the season three minutes and 22 seconds into the game. Skating five-on-five hockey, the Wolves set up in the Monarchs zone with defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski controlling the puck at the right point. Kwiatkowski found left wing Brett Sterling at the bottom of the right circle. As Crabb skated in front of Monarchs goaltender Daniel Taylor, Sterling sent a tape-to-tape pass to the right wing for a one-timer that beat the netminder on his blocker side.
A mere 37-seconds later, Monarchs right wing Teddy Purcell advanced his league leading 31 points by one with his eighth goal of the season. Defenseman Troy Milam found the rookie skating through the center of the Wolves zone. Purcell collected the puck between the hash marks and snapped a wrist shot over the right pad of goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. Left wing Matt Moulson assisted on the tying goal at 3:55 of the opening period.
The No. 1 power play in the American Hockey League went to work to give the Monarchs a 2-1 lead at 11:23 of the first period. With Brian Fahey in the box for hooking down Monarchs center David Meckler on a breakaway, Manchester went to work. Moulson carried the puck through the Wolves zone until he found defenseman Peter Harrold open at the left point. Harrold's slap shot from the point maneuvered through the bodies and off the stick of Lewis for his third goal of the season.
Meckler increased the Monarchs lead to 3-1 at 18:12 of the first stanza. Harrold received the puck at the right point from his defensive partner blueliner Brian Boyle. Harrold found Meckler inside the top of the left face-off circle fending off a Wolves player. Meckler settled the puck and snapped a shot over the shoulder of Pavelec for his seventh tally of the season.
Lewis connected for his second power play goal of the game at 4:35 of the middle frame. After digging the puck out of the corner to left wing Paul Crosty and stationing himself in the top of the right face-off circle, Lewis picked up a pass from his linemate and fired a slap shot through the legs of Pavelec for the 4-1 Monarchs advantage. Boyle earned his second assist of the game on Lewis' fourth goal of the season.
Chicago cut their deficit in half at 13:53 of the second period with center Kevin Doell's second tally of the season. Left wing Colin Stuart threw the puck on net and Taylor made the initial save. The puck laid in the Monarchs goal crease for Doell to chip in through the legs of the netminder. Left wing Jordan LaVallee assisted on the goal to bring the game to 4-2 Monarchs.
Moulson scored his sixth goal of the season, and first since returning from a 12-game stint with the Los Angeles Kings, at 18:46 of the middle frame. Milam threw the puck behind Chicago's cage for Lewis who tried to stuff the puck in at the left post. Pavelec haulted the stuff-in attempt but the puck bounced off of his left pad and onto the stick of Moulson for the flip-in.
Pavelec was replaced in net by Robert Gherson at the 18:46 mark of the second period following five Monarchs goals and 26 saves.
Center Steve Martins deflected the puck past Taylor for his ninth goal of the season and the Wolves third goal of the night. Center Alexandre Giroux tossed the puck in front from behind the net. The rubber bounced off of Martins and over the goal line for the 5-3 score. Right wing Jesse Schultz assisted on Martins ninth tally of the season.
Center Marc-Andre Cliche put the finishing touches on the Wolves as he tallied his third goal of the season on a breakaway. Meckler fed the puck up to Cliche who broke in all alone on Gherson. The rookie forward snapped a wrist shot over the blocker of Gherson and into the top left corner of the net.
With two Chicago players in the sin bin for roughing and slashing, Lewis scored his third goal of the night for his first hat trick of his professional career. Purcell fed the puck to Lewis who was camped out in front of the net for the five-hole tally. Harrold assisted on the goal for a score of 7-3.
Defenseman Nathan Oystrick scored a power play goal at 18:52 of the final period to finish off the game. Center Jason Krog fed the puck to Oystick at the center point for the slap shot that beat Taylor stick side. Right wing Guillaume Desbiens assisted on the evening's final goal.
Manchester went 3-for-7 on the power play. Chicago was 1-for-5 with the man advantage.
Taylor made 23 saves on the 27 shots he faced to improve his record to 2-0. Pavelec stopped 26-of-31 shots in the loss before being replaced by Gherson who stopped two shots.
The Monarchs host the Portland Pirates at the Verizon Wireless Arena with a 7:05 p.m. match-up on Friday, December 14. Catch all of the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network WGIR-AM 610 and at www.manchestermonarchs.com. Watch the game live on B2 Networks for just $6 per game. Log onto www.manchestermonarchs.com and click on the link to B2 Networks ten minutes prior to the each Monarchs game to watch the game live.
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American Hockey League Stories from December 8, 2007
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