AHL Manchester Monarchs

Ball Drops On Monarchs

December 31, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Manchester Monarchs fell to the Lowell Devils, 5-2, at the Verizon Wireless Arena in their annual New Year's Eve game on Thursday night.

Manchester (23-11-1-2) remains in first place in the Atlantic Division with 49 points. Lowell (20-13-3-0), a division rival, remains in second place in the Atlantic Division with 43 points.

"Tough start to the game but we battled hard," said Monarchs Director of Hockey Operations Hubie McDonough. "(Jeff) Frazee made some big saves against us. There was no quit in our guys. They dug deep and fought but Lowell just capitalized on every one of our mistakes tonight."

The Devils made it 3-0 at 14:58 of the first period off the stick of defenseman Tyler Eckford. He collected a pass from center Brad Mills and carried the puck up the left wing boards and flicked the puck on the goal. Mills, who crashed the net and created traffic, blocked goaltender Jeff Zatkoff's view, allowing the puck to loop over the netminder's left shoulder. Both Mills and right wing Stephen Gionta were credited with assists on Eckford's sixth goal of the season.

The Devils began their scoring at 2:59 of the first period when right wing Patrick Davis tallied his seventh goal of the season. Davis skated up the left wing and with one hand on the stick and dangled the puck around a Monarchs defender before he elevated it into the top of the net beating Zatkoff on the stick side. The goal, assisted by Gionta, gave the Devils the early 1-0 advantage.

The second goal for the Devils came 46 seconds after Davis' tally as center Tim Sestito crossed the blueline, unopposed, and fired a blast that trickled across the goal line to give Lowell the 2-0 advantage. Sestito's shot from the right face-off dot was slowed by Zatkoff's pads, but trickled through five-hole and slowly crept into the net. Defensemen Nick Palmeiri and Olivier Magnan assisted on Sestito's 10th goal of the season.

Left wing Alexander Vasyunov padded the Devils lead by scoring their fourth goal of the game at 10:29 of the second period. With the Devils well entrenched in the Monarchs defensive zone during a power play, defenseman Cory Murphy cycled the puck behind the net to Vasyunov who established his position between the face-off circles. Vasyunov flicked a wrist shot top-shelf on Monarchs goaltender Jonathan Bernier. Vasyunov's ninth goal of the season gave Lowell their first of two power play goals on the evening. Murphy and Davis assisted on the goal that brought the score to 4-0.

The Devils continued their scoring prowess with their fifth consecutive goal at 5:27 in the third period after a battle in the crease was won by right wing Nathan Perkovich. On the power play, Eckford passed the puck up to center Ben Walter, who fired the puck on net. The crease traffic created by both teams allowed Perkovich to charge in from the rear and force the puck past Bernier.

The Monarchs scored their first goal of the game in the third period as center Corey Elkins scored shorthanded at 12:59 of the third period. The puck was turned over directly in front of the crease by a Devils defenseman. Right wing Jon Rheault picked the pocket of the defenseman and simply held it for a waiting Elkins. The rookie center then blasted the puck by Lowell netminder Jeff Frazee.

As the buzzer sounded signaling the end of the third period, Manchester left wing David Meckler scored his eighth tally of the season. Defenseman Patrick Mullen entered the zone attempting to make one last rush up the ice to end the period. He passed the puck to center Juraj Mikus, who quickly fed the puck over to Meckler at the top of the crease. One quick flick of the wrist past a sprawling Frazee gave the Monarchs their second goal of the night with one second to spare on the clock.

Zatkoff (7-3-0) took his third loss of the season stopping 2-of-5 shots. Bernier (16-9-2) relieved Zatkoff after the first period and played the remainder of the game making 26 saves. Frazee (8-6-0) earned his eighth win of the season stopping 30-of-32 shots.

Manchester was 0-for-3 on the power play. Lowell capitalized on 2-of-9 power play chances.

Notables: The Monarchs now have a record of 4-3-2-0 in their annual New Year's Eve game at the Verizon Wireless Arena...The eight total shots between Manchester and Lowell set a new season low for combined shots this season...Center Corey Elkins scored his second shorthanded goal of the season, the team's sixth shorthanded tally...Left wing David Meckler is on a four-game point streak with four points (2-24)...Meckler has 10 points (7-310) in his last nine games...Goaltender Jonathan Bernier collected his first two penalty minutes this season...For only the second time this season, goaltenders have been switched during the game; Bernier replaced netminder Jeff Zatkoff following the first period.

The Monarchs start off 2010 with a home game against the Portland Pirates on Saturday, January 2 at the Verizon Wireless Arena at 7:00 p.m. Catch all of the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network WGAM 900/1250 AM and at www.manchestermonarchs.com.



American Hockey League Stories from December 31, 2009


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