AHL Manchester Monarchs

Monarchs Weekly

Published on March 31, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


LAST WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS

Vs. Portland (3/26): Center Brady Murray tallied a goal off an odd man rush and goaltender Daniel Taylor withstood all 31 shots he faced as the Manchester Monarchs blanked the Portland Pirates 2-0 at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Wednesday night. Left wing Matt Moulson scored the insurance goal for the Monarchs. Pirates netminder Mike McKenna stopped 21 shots in the loss. Manchester and Portland each went 0-for-3 on the power play.

At Norfolk (3/28): Goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped all 26 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season as the Manchester Monarchs blanked the Norfolk Admirals, 4-0, for their fourth consecutive win at the Norfolk Scope on Friday night. The rapid fire goals came off the sticks of center Brian Boyle, left wing Matt Moulson, center Marc-Andre Cliche and center Brady Murray. Admirals goaltender Jonathan Boutin took the loss with 32 saves. Manchester went 1-for-3 on the power play. Norfolk was 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

At Norfolk (3/29): Center Bracken Kearns tallied a pair of goals, including the game winner as the Norfolk Admirals topped the Manchester Monarchs 4-3 at the Norfolk Scope on Saturday night The second half of the game belonged to the Monarchs as right wing Teddy Purcell, center Marc-Andre Cliche and center David Meckler scored goals but they couldn't even the game after the Admirals registered tallies from Kearns, right wing Chris Lawrence and left wing Radek Smolenak in the first half of the game. Monarchs goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 8-of-12 shots before being replaced by netminder Curtis Darling who stopped all 12 shots that came his way. Former Monarchs goaltender Ryan Munce earned the win for the Admirals with 35 saves. Manchester went 2-for-6 on the power play. Norfolk was 2-for-9 with the man advantage.

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LAST WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS (CONTINUED)

At Hershey (3/30): A dominant third period had the Manchester Monarchs swimming in a sea of chocolate as they sank the Hershey Bears 5-2 at the Giant Center on Sunday night. Center Brady Murray tallied twice, right wing Teddy Purcell pocketed the game-winner and centers David Meckler and Brian Boyle each collected an empty net goal in the Monarchs victory. Defenseman Josef Boumedienne and center Kyle Wilson found the back of the net for Hershey. Monarchs goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 31-of-33 shots for his eighth win of the season. Bears netminder Frederic Cassivi stopped 35 shots in the loss. Manchester went 1-for-3 on the power play. Hershey was 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

MONARCHS NEWS & NOTES

The Monarchs (35-30-5-4, 79 points) have won five out of their last six games to move five points ahead of the Springfield Falcons (32-31-5-5, 74 points) for fourth place in the Atlantic Division. Manchester has six games remaining in the regular season and Springfield has seven contests in the final two weeks.

Manchester has won seven out of their last 10 games (7-2-1-0) and 10 of their last 15 games (10-4-1-0).

The Monarchs have a home record of 16-16-2-3 and a road record of 19-14-3-1.

The Monarchs power play remains atop the AHL with a 23.9-percentage and the penalty kill is in 28th place with 78.8-percent.

Manchester set a new record for the most power play goals against in a season with 79 tallies for the opponent when they have the man advantage.

The Monarchs have the best home power play record as they have scored 44 goals on 173 opportunities at the Verizon Wireless Arena. They are ranked third on the road with a power play record of 37 goals on 166 opportunities.

Manchester has scored at least one power play goal in 24 of their 35 wins this season.

37 of the 74 Monarchs games thus far this season have been determined by one goal. The Monarchs are 16-12-5-4 in one goal games, 8-8-0-0 in two goal games, 3-7-0-0 in three goal games and 8-3-0-0 in four goal games.

Manchester is 21-4-2-1 when leading after the first period and 23-2-1-1 when leading after the second period.

When scoring first in the game, the Monarchs are 26-7-3-2.

The best day of the week for the Monarchs to play is on Saturday. The team is 13-9-2-2 in 26 Saturday games this season. Manchester is 7-3-1-0 in Sunday games, 2-1-0-0 on Mondays and 1-1-0-0 on Tuesday. On Wednesdays, the Monarchs have a record of 3-6-0-0. In the lone Thursday game this season, the Monarchs lost in overtime. Manchester is 9-10-1-2 on Fridays thus far this season.

The Monarchs are 5-4 in shootouts this season.

Right wing Teddy Purcell (22-55=77) leads the Monarchs with 77 points in 63 games. He was recalled by the Los Angeles Kings on Friday, February 15 and scored his first NHL goal later that night in the Kings 6-3 win over the Calgary Flames. In 10 games with the Kings this season, Purcell has one goal and two assists for three points and a plus/minus rating of plus-2.

Purcell was named the MVP of the 2008 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Reebok after he scored three goals and the decisive game-winning shootout tally for the Canadian All-Stars.

Purcell has scored at least one point in 48-of-63 games with the Monarchs this season.

Purcell's 77 points are ranked fourth in the AHL for overall scoring and is ranked first among rookies.

His 55 assists are ranked fourth in the AHL in that category and also rank first among rookies.

Purcell's 33 assists on the power play place him for second place in the AHL and ranks first among AHL rookies.

The rookie right wing is currently on a seven game point streak as he has three goals and eight assists for 11 points dating back to March 19.

Center Gabe Gauthier (23-37=60) is ranked second on the Monarchs squad with 60 points in 61 games.

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MONARCHS NEWS & NOTES (CONTINUED)

Gauthier went 4-for-4 in the accuracy shooting event as he represented PlanetUSA at the 2008 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Reebok. Gauthier is only the second person in AHL history to go 4-for-4 in the event. Former Providence Bruins' Andy Hilbert went 4-for-4 in the 2005 Dodge AHL All-Star Classic held in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Gauthier's 37 assists are ranked second on the Monarchs squad.

Gauthier has scored at least one point in 39-of-61 games this season.

Gauthier's 60 points ties him in 19th place in the AHL.

22 of Gauthier's 37 assists this season have come on the power play, which ties him for 10th place in the AHL for power play assists.

Gauthier's 15 power play goals are tied for third in the AHL among power play tallies.

Center Brian Boyle is ranked third on the Monarchs squad this season and ranked second among AHL rookies with 58 points (28-30=58). He was recalled by the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, February 2. In his debut, he collected a goal and an assist in the Kings 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils. In eight games with the Kings since his debut, Boyle has four goals and an assist for five points and a plus-4 rating. Boyle was assigned to Manchester on Sunday, February 17.

Boyle also ranks first among AHL rookies with 228 shots on goal this season.

Boyle's 15 power play goals are tied for third overall in the AHL with Gauthier and Chicago's right wing Joe Motzko and ranked first among rookies.

Boyle's 28 goals lead AHL rookies.

The rookie center's six game winning goals also lead AHL rookies.

Left wing Matt Moulson is fourth on the Monarchs squad with 50 points (27-23=50) in 53 games this season. The second year left wing has played in 22 games with the Kings this season and recorded nine points (5-4=9) and a plus/minus rating of plus-2.

Defenseman Peter Harrold leads Monarchs blueliners, is ranked fifth on the team and is tied for fifth place in the AHL among defensemen with 43 points (7-36=43) in 49 games. Harrold was recalled by the Kings on Tuesday, February 19. He scored his first NHL goal in the Kings 6-5 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, February 23. Harrold has five points (2-3=5) and a plus-2 in 22 games with the Kings this season.

29 of Harrold's 36 assists have come on the power play, which ranks fourth in the league.

Center Brady Murray collected four goals in four games last week, including the game-winning goal in last Wednesday's 2-0 win over the Portland Pirates.

Since returning from a foot injury, center Marc-Andre Cliche has recorded 14 points (6-8=14) in 19 games. The rookie center is currently on his longest point streak of the season as he has two goals and two assists for four points in his last four games.

Defenseman Jeff Likens is currently on a five game point (1-4=5) streak and a four game assist (0-4=4) streak.

Right wing Kevin Westgarth is ranked for 27th in the AHL in penalty minutes with 177 in 63 games. Westgarth is also ranked third among rookies in penalty minutes. He has 23 major penalties that also tied for first among rookies.

Left wing Paul Crosty is ranked 10th in the AHL with 198 penalty minutes in 47 games.

In 30 games between the pipes for Manchester, goaltender Erik Ersberg has a record of 10-13-2, a 2.92 goals-against-average and a .897 save-percentage. He was recalled by the Kings on Wednesday, February 20 and served as the backup goaltender in the Kings 5-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, February 21.

Ersberg collected his first win and shutout in the Kings 2-0 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, March 6. The rookie goaltender stopped 40 shots from the Senators through 60 minutes of play for the victory. Ersberg has played in 12 games with the Kings this season and collected a record of 5-4-3, two shutouts, a 2.30 goals-against-average and a .932 save-percentage.

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MONARCHS NEWS & NOTES (CONTINUED)

Netminder Daniel Taylor has played in 23 games this season and registered a record of 13-5-2, four shutouts, a 2.40 goals-against-average and a .921 save-percentage.

The rookie goaltender made his NHL debut with the Kings on Saturday, March 29 when he replaced Ersberg between the pipes for the third period against the Dallas Stars. Taylor stopped 8-of-10 shots in the game. Taylor is the seventh goaltender to play in a Kings uniform this season. He follows Jason LaBarbera, Dan Cloutier, Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Jonathan Quick, Jonathan Bernier and Ersberg.

Taylor earned his first professional shutout with the Monarchs by stopping all 30 shots by the Milwaukee Admirals in the Monarchs 1-0 win on Friday, January 18 and his second shutout on Wednesday, January 23 with 35 saves in the Monarchs 2-0 win over the Worcester Sharks. His third consecutive shutout came on Friday, January 25 when the Monarchs topped the Lowell Devils 4-0 and Taylor stopped all 32 shots he faced.

Taylor's shutout streak ended when center Jason King of the Portland Pirates scored at the four-minute mark in the first period of the game on Friday February 1 to bring his total streak time to 189 minutes and 36 seconds.

Taylor did not allow an even strength goal from January 13 until the game on February 2. He shut down the opponent when playing 5-on-5 hockey for a total of 336 minutes and 31 seconds. During that time, Taylor allowed four power play goals.

Quick was recalled by the Monarchs on February 27 from the ECHL's Reading Royals. In 16 games with the Monarchs, Quick has a record of 8-8-0, two shutouts, a 2.52 goals-against-average and a .915 save-percentage.

Quick made his NHL debut with the Kings on December 6 and registered his first win, an 8-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. In three games with Los Angeles, Quick has a record of 1-2-0, a 3.83 goals-against-average and a .855 save-percentage.

MONARCHS TRANSACTIONS

3-29-08 - The Los Angeles Kings (NHL) assigned right wing John Zeiler to the Manchester Monarchs (AHL).

3-29-08 - The Manchester Monarchs (AHL) assigned defenseman P.J. Atherton to the Reading Royals (ECHL).

3-27-08 - The Manchester Monarchs (AHL) signed goaltender Curtis Darling to a professional tryout agreement.

3-27-08 - The Los Angeles Kings (NHL) recalled goaltender Daniel Taylor from the Manchester Monarchs (AHL).

MONARCHS INJURY REPORT

Center Gabe Gauthier is week-to-week with a lower body injury.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 31, 2008


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