AHL Manchester Monarchs

Clean Sweep on the Rock

Published on March 18, 2012 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


ST. JOHN'S, NF - Goaltender Jeff Zatkoff and the Manchester Monarchs shutout the St. John's IceCaps, 3-0, to earn a weekend sweep at the Mile One Centre on Sunday afternoon.

Manchester (33-29-0-3) is in second place in the Atlantic Division with 69 points. St. John's (38-18-5-2) is ranked first in the Atlantic Division with 83 points.

"It was another solid effort and we are pleased with a sweep against a great team," said Monarchs Head Coach Mark Morris. "(Jeff) Zatkoff made several key saves at pivotal points in the game and he is deserving of the shutout! Ray Kaunisto fired a beauty over Pasquale's glove to get us off on the right foot. Justin Azevedo rifled a quick shot on a nifty drop pass by Brandon Kozun to put us up 2-0 and Andrei Loktionov potted an empty netter to seal the game and the weekend series. We played physical and executed well. The long trip home will be a lot more enjoyable. It's nice to see the team developing a bit of chemistry."

The Monarchs opened the scoring just 20 seconds into the first period when left wing Ray Kaunisto scored his fifth goal of the season. From the neutral zone, defenseman Jake Muzzin passed the puck to left wing Richard Clune along the left wing boards. Clune skated down the left wing boards before playing it back to Kaunisto at the top of left wing face-off circle. Kaunisto skated into the face-off circle and snapped a wrist shot that beat IceCaps goaltender Eddie Pasquale high on the glove side for the early 1-0 advantage.

The Monarchs extended their lead to 2-0 when center Justin Azevedo tallied his team-leading 20th goal of the season at 5:06 of the third period. Right wing Trent Hunter started the Monarchs transition by finding right wing Brandon Kozun in the neutral zone along the right wing boards. Kozun skated the puck into the IceCaps zone and dropped a pass back to Azevedo at the top of the right wing face-off circle. Azevedo fired a wrist shot over Pasquale's left shoulder and into the back of the net.

Center Andrei Loktionov finished off the IceCaps with an empty net goal at 19:42 of the third period. Loktionov picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated in all alone before sliding the puck over the goal line for his fourth tally of the season.

Zatkoff (18-14-1) earned his 18th victory and second shutout of the season stopping all 27 shots he faced. Pasquale (20-10-0) took his 10th loss of the season making 18 saves on 20 shots.

Manchester went 0-for-5 on the power play. St. John's was 0-for-3 with the man advantage.

Notables: The Monarchs are 2-5-0-0 against the IceCaps this season with both wins coming this weekend...The Monarchs penalty kill is 22-for-23 (95.7%) in their last seven games...Monarchs goaltender Jeff Zatkoff has a shutout streak of 67:14 minutes...Monarchs left wing Ray Kaunisto scored 20 seconds into the opening period, the fastest opening goal by the Monarchs this season...Center Justin Azevedo netted his 20th goal which leads all Monarchs scorers this season...Azevedo has seven goals in six games for the month of March.

The Monarchs travel to the Dunkin Donuts Center to play the Providence Bruins at 7:05 p.m. on Friday, March 23. Catch all the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network, WGIR 610 AM, WTPL 107.7 FM The Pulse, WGIR.com and at www.manchestermonarchs.com, presented by Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 18, 2012


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