AHL Manchester Monarchs

Monarchs Maimed By Marlies

January 27, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


MANCHESTER, NH - Five first period goals gave the Toronto Marlies the momentum to surpass the Manchester Monarchs, 6-4, at the Verizon Wireless Arena in front of 9,629 fans on Friday night.

Manchester (26-13-1-4, 57 points) is in second place in the Atlantic Division. Toronto (24-18-3-0, 51 points) is in fourth place in the North Division.

Toronto scored five goals in the first period and never looked back as center Jeremy Williams, left wing Colin Murphy (2), center John Pohl and center Roman Kukumberg found the back of the net. Williams started the scoring with his 13th goal of the season at 5:25. Murphy collected the puck along the right wing boards and threw it toward the net. Williams tipped the puck past Monarchs goaltender Barry Brust to start the Marlies' scoring. Left wing Tyler Beechey also assisted on the first goal of the game.

Murphy, Williams and Beechey connected again for the second goal of the period at 7:39. On the power play with Monarchs defenseman Marty Wilford in the box for cross-checking, Murphy sent a slap shot past Brust to give the Marlies a 2-0 lead.

Pohl put in his 24th goal of the season at 11:05 of the first period to bring the Marlies lead to 3-0. Defenseman Ian White sent the puck fluttering toward the net from the point. Brust made the initial save but Pohl was on the doorstep to jam in the rebound for the Marlies second power play goal of the night.

Williams earned his second assist and third point of the night by setting up Murphy for his second goal of the game, ninth of the season and Toronto's third power play goal of the evening. Williams grabbed a pass from Beechey on the left wing boards and fired the puck at the net. Murphy banged home the rebound for his ninth of the season at 11:43 of the first period.

Finishing off the Marlies scoring was Kukumberg as he jammed in his first goal of the season at 12:49 of the opening period. Williams dropped the puck off to left wing Martin Sagat as he came streaking through the center of the Monarchs zone. Sagat's shot was stopped by Brust but Kukumberg jumped on the rebound.

Monarchs replaced goaltender Brust with Adam Hauser for the remaining two periods of the game.

Manchester finally got on the board at 16:57 of the first period as defenseman Brad Fast collected a power play goal. Right wing Brad Smyth sent the puck to Fast at the point. Fast sent a knuckling puck through traffic and past Marlies goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin for his fourth of the season. Wilford assisted on the goal that made the game 5-1.

The Monarchs struck first in the second period as forward Brendan Bernakevitch scored his sixth of the season at 9:39 of the middle frame. Right wing Konstantin Pushkarev sent the puck to Bernakevitch who skated into the slot and sent the puck into the net on the far post. Smyth assisted on the play.

On the power play, the Monarchs cycled the puck from Wilford to right wing Lauri Tukonen to defenseman Mark Ardelan at the top of the right face-off circle. Ardelan fired a wrist shot over the glove of Aubin for his seventh of the season.

Right wing Petr Kanko brought the Monarchs to within one goal with less than two minutes remaining in the game. With Hauser pulled for the extra attacker, Ardelan sent a shot toward the net from just inside the blue-line. The puck bounced toward the net and caromed off Kanko for his ninth of the season. Defenseman Denis Grebeshkov assisted on the goal to bring the score to 5-4.

Marlies right wing Ben Ondrus scored an empty net goal to finish off the Monarch at 18:52 of the third period.

Brust (10-4-1) took his fourth loss of the season stopping 11-of-16 shots in the first period of play. Hauser (14-9-2) blanked the Marlies for the remaining two periods stopping all 15 shots he faced. Aubin (13-12-0) earned the win with 19 saves.

Manchester went 2-for-4 on the power play. Toronto was 3-for-8 with the man advantage.

The Monarchs head to the Pepsi Arena to face the Albany River Rats on Saturday, January 28 at 5:00 p.m.

Catch all of the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network (WGIR-AM 610, Manchester; WGIN-AM 930, Rochester; WGIP-AM 1540, Exeter) 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 the each Monarchs game to watch the game live!



American Hockey League Stories from January 27, 2006


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