Monarchs Fall To Falcons, 7-4
April 7, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release
SPRINGFIELD, MA - Four unanswered goals gave the Springfield Falcons a 7-4 win over the Manchester Monarchs in the final game of the ten game series, at the MassMutual Center in front of 2,841 fans on Friday night.
Manchester (40-29-3-4, 87 points) is in third place in the Atlantic Division. Springfield (27-39-3-6, 63 points) is in sixth place in the Atlantic Division.
The Monarchs jumped on the board at 2:02 of the opening period with a power play goal from left wing Petr Kanko. Right wing Konstantin Pushkarev skated down the right wing and to the front of the net. Before he was able to shoot, the Falcons defense spun him around at the top of the crease but Kanko was on the doorstep to jam in the loose puck. Defenseman Marty Wilford earned his team leading 36th assist on the power play goal.
Springfield answered back at 5:40 of the first frame when right wing Keith Croxton scored his first professional goal. Forward Ryan Vesce's shot was blocked by a Monarchs player but not cleared. Right wing Norm Milley picked up the loose puck, fanned on his shot and then Croxton grabbed the puck and stuffed it just inside the right post to even the game at 1-1.
The Monarchs regained the lead at 7:17 when defenseman Mark Ardelan put the puck in the top right corner of the net for his ninth goal of the season. Left wing Noah Clarke skated the puck into the zone and handed it off to right wing Alexandre Daigle at the left point. Daigle fed the puck to Ardelan as he flew down the center of the Falcons zone. Ardelan fired his shot from just inside the hash marks for the tally.
Center Jason Jaspers tied the game at 2-2 with his team leading 27th goal of the season at 1:11 of the second period. Defenseman Jay Rosehill gave the puck to Jaspers who cared it into the Monarchs zone and blasted a slap shot over the left shoulder of goaltender Barry Brust. Right wing Marek Kvapil also assisted on the goal.
At 5:33 of the middle frame, center Connor James and right wing Lauri Tukonen skated into the Falcons zone on a two-on-one breakaway. James came down the left wing, waited for the Springfield defender to go down and passed the puck over to Tukonen for the one-timer. Pushkarev earned his second assist of the night on the play.
Vesce scored a power play goal to tie the game at 3-3 at 12:07 of the second period. Milley gave the puck to Kvapil along the left wing boards. Weighing his options, Kvapil played catch for a bit with Vesce at the end red line before Vesce walked the puck into the crease and pushed it past Brust.
Just 20-seconds later, center Matt Ryan gave the Monarchs the lead again as he flipped the puck in the net as he fell to the ice. Defenseman Brad Fast assisted on Ryan's 10th goal of the season.
Left wing David Spina skated down the left wing and tossed a backhander toward the net that ended up getting past Brust and trickling over the goal line for his 10th tally of the season. Defenseman Todd Rohloff collected the lone assist on the play at 15:58 of the second period
Springfield took their first lead of the game at 16:30 of the middle stanza with defenseman Doug O'Brien's seventh goal of the season. At the left face-off dot, Vesce won the draw back to O'Brien who fired a slap shot from between the top of the circles. O'Brien's shot soared into the top right corner of the net to give the Falcons a 5-4 lead.
Jaspers earned an insurance goal for the Falcons at 15:19 of the final period by sending a blast from the left face-off circle over the glove of Brust. Spina assisted on Jaspers' 28th tally of the season and second of the night.
Spina added his second tally of the night at 17:15 of the third stanza as the Falcons skated on the power play. Milley sent the puck to Spina who fired a backhander at point blank range on Brust. The rebound bounced into the crease and Spina jammed in the rebound for his second of the night, 11th overall this season.
Brust (17-14-1) took the loss with 25 saves. Falcons goaltender Gerald Coleman (14-19-3) earned the win by stopping 25 shots.
Manchester went 1-for-3 on the power play. Springfield was 2-for-6 with the man advantage.
The Monarchs return home on Saturday, April 8 to face the Albany River Rats at 7:35 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
Catch all of the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on Friday on Rock 101.1 FM and at www.monarchshockey.com. Watch the game live on B2 Networks for just $6 per game. Log onto www.monarchshockey.com and click on the link to B2 Networks ten minutes prior to each Monarchs game to watch the game live!
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