AHL Manchester Monarchs

Bruins Out-Whit Monarchs in Shootout

Published on December 9, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


PROVIDENCE, RI - The Manchester Monarchs fell to the Providence Bruins, 2-1 in a shootout, as center Trent Whitfield tied the game in the third period and scored the shootout winner t at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Friday night.

Manchester (14-10-0-2) ranks second in the Atlantic Division with 30 points. The Bruins (9-14-1-2) are in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with 21 points.

"The first period was up and down the rink, we came out flying," said Monarchs Head Coach Mark Morris. "The second was one we'd like to delete from the memory bank. Providence had 14 chances and Martin Jones had to be spectacular. For whatever reason, we decided to get away from keeping things simple and Providence hemmed us in for most of the period. The third period was better but a costly turnover in between the face-off circles led to the tying goal. We over skated the puck and they swiped at the loose puck and it arched over Jonesy's head. We killed off a five-minute penalty to bring the game to overtime. In the overtime we squandered a 4-on-3 power play and then came up short in the shootout.

"Some injuries to some key personnel will challenge us for the remainder of the weekend. Hopefully we stick to our plan and simplify things."

Center Marc-Andre Cliche registered the lone goal for the Monarchs. Bruins netminder Michael Hutchinson stopped Monarchs right wing Linden Vey, right wing Brandon Kozun, center Justin Azevedo and left wing David Meckler. Center Jamie Arniel and Whitfield scored the shootout goal for the Bruins. Right wing Carter Camper, center Josh Hennessy and center Zach Hamill were all denied by Monarchs goaltender Martin Jones.

The Monarchs opened the scoring at 19:55 of the first period when right Kozun banged in a pass from defenseman Patrick Mullen. Monarchs left wing Dwight King started the breakout from behind the Monarchs net to Kozun in the neutral zone along the left wing boards. Kozun gained the Bruins zone before firing a pass to Mullen at the right point. Skating into the zone with a burst of speed, Mullen picked up the puck and charged to the net. As he neared the crease, Mullen found Kozun on the left doorstep for the tap in and his seventh goal of the season.

Providence tied the score at 1-1 after a failed clearing attempt by the Monarchs in their zone. Bruins left wing Lane MacDermid stole the puck from a Monarchs defenseman and wristed a backhand shot from the right slot. MacDermid's shot was deflected in flight by Whitfield in front of Jones for his first goal of the season at 2:56 of the third period.

Jones (8-7-1) took his first shootout loss of the season stopping 30-of-31 shots in regulation and 3-of-5 shootout attempts. Hutchinson (1-4-0) earned his first victory of the season making 26 saves on 27 shots in regulation and stopped 4-of-5 shootout snipers.

Manchester went 0-for-2 on the power play. Providence was 0-for-3 with the man advantage.

Notables: The Monarchs are 8-1-0-1 in their last 10 games...The Monarchs are 4-2 in shootouts this season...Monarchs right wing Brandon Kozun extended his point-streak (3-36) to six games with a first period goal...Monarchs left wing Dwight King extended his point-streak (1-34) to four games with an assist on Kozun's tally...Monarchs center Marc-Andre Cliche is a perfect 5-for-5 in shootout attempts this season.

The Monarchs will travel to the MassMutual Center to play the Springfield Falcons on Saturday, December 10 at 7:00 p.m. Catch all the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network WMYF 1380AM, WGIR.com and at www.manchestermonarchs.com.

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