WORCESTER, MA - Defenseman Danny Groulx scored in the ninth-round of the shootout as the Manchester Monarchs fought to the bitter end of their, 2-1, shootout loss to the Worcester Sharks at the DCU Center on Friday night.
Manchester (9-2-1-1) leads the Atlantic Division with 20 points. Worcester (8-3-0-1) is ranked second in the Atlantic Division with 17 points.
"We had our chances," said Monarchs Head Coach Mark Morris. "And on their final try they snuck it by (Jonathan) Bernier.
"We exchanged breakaways in overtime. Our shootout efforts were less than we had hoped for but we were able to salvage a point. We had a couple players out with the flu so we have to take this (point) as a positive and look toward tomorrow's game against Hershey."
Right wing Trevor Lewis scored the lone goal for the Monarchs in the fifth round of the shootout. On top of Groulx's game-winning tally, center Dwight Helminen also scored for the Sharks in the second round of the shootout.
The Monarchs struck first with defenseman David Kolomatis' first goal of the season at 4:22 of the opening frame. Manchester was skating on the power play when left wing Bud Holloway lifted the Sharks' defender's stick so defenseman Thomas Hickey could steal the puck and hand it off to Kolomatis. The rookie defenseman wristed a snap shot from the right point that shot through traffic and into the top right corner of the net to give Manchester the 1-0 lead. Left wing David Meckler and center Corey Elkins were credited with the assists.
Helminen evened the game at 1-1 with his second tally of the season at 4:25 of the middle stanza. Right wing Matt Jones collected the point at the left point and threw a shot toward the net that Helminen was able to redirect over Monarchs goaltender Jonathan Bernier. Center Steven Zalewski picked up an assist on the tying goal.
Bernier (6-2-1) took his first shootout loss of the season with a season-high 46 saves on 47 shots and stopped seven shootout snipers. Sharks goaltender Alex Stalock (6-1-0) earned his sixth win of the season with 29 saves in regulation and overtime, as well as eight saves in the shootout.
Manchester went 1-for-6 on the power play. Worcester was 0-for-6 with the man advantage.
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