Monarchs wins over Wolf Pack

Published on November 5, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Wolf Pack were struck by some bad luck Friday at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, losing a 3-2 verdict to the Monarchs and setting a franchise record for longest losing streak in the process.

The game's first three goals found the net off of Wolf Pack players, but two of them were for the Monarchs, as a crowd of 3,772 looked on.

Forwards Jeremy Williams (shinpad) and Ryan Garlock (glove) unintentionally deflected shots by defensemen Jake Muzzin and David Kolomatis past a stunned Chad Johnson in the second period, and Bud Holloway finally scored the Monarchs' second power-play goal with 6:37 left as the Wolf Pack's winless streak reached eight games (0-6-2-0).

The Wolf Pack ended a 0-for-25 drought on the power play when Brodie Dupont scored his first goal of the season late in the second period. But the Monarchs' second fortuitous goal credited to Kolomatis 31/2 minutes later gave the Monarchs the lead for good.

Holloway scored for the Monarchs on a power play with 6:37 left, and that proved the winner when Mats Zuccarello tallied a sixth-attacker goal off Tim Kennedy's second primary assist with 1:10 left.

But the Wolf Pack couldn't clear their zone and get Johnson out of the net again, and the Monarchs (7-3-1-1) finished off their second victory over the Wolf Pack in three nights.

"It's tough to play when you have those bounces," said Zuccarello, who had a goal and an assist after being reunited with Kennedy, back after missing four games due to injury. "Still, they were working hard to get those bounces, so we have to work even harder. We had a great first period, kind of let them into the game (on early power play), but we have to stay that way for 60 minutes.

"And we have to eliminate penalties. They're a good power-play team, and we know that. Chad was great there in the third and we were able to get it to a one-goal game, but we couldn't get it out of our own zone (at the end). It's tough, but we have to stick together as a team. We've had a couple of losses in a row, and obviously it's not something we're happy with. We've been battling hard, but at the same time we have to be smarter. We can't be overstressing. We just have to play our own game and work hard in a smart way."

Johnson (37 saves) kept the Wolf Pack close in the third period when the Monarchs had 11 of the first 13 shots, capped by Holloway's goal. But before that, he made a left-pad save on Alec Martinez's screen shot from the left point at 4:25, Dwight King cruising down the slot at 5:17, former Yale standout David Meckler's shorthanded breakaway off a steal from Nigel Williams at 9:07 and a glove stop on Brandon Kozun's point-blank deflection with 9:42 left.

"That's the best I've felt this season, but pucks weren't going my way," Johnson said. "The defense did a good job of keeping a lot the shots to the outside and putting some pressure on them. We weren't really giving them a lot of time and space to really think about what they wanted to do, but that's just kind of how it goes right now. We're just not getting the bounces and going our way, so we just have to grind it out.

"But you can't take anything away from (the Monarchs). They're a good team, well structured and have a lot of good things going for them. But we have to look at how we play as a team. We had our moments working hard, but it's just finding that consistency every shift. We just have to tighten up offensively and defensively."

The Wolf Pack's recent misfortune continued early as they failed to clear their zone four times during a Monarchs power play before Muzzin's shot from the left point deflected off penalty killer Jeremy Williams and past Johnson at 2:02. Muzzin, 21, was making his season debut with the Monarchs after being assigned Wednesday after getting one assist in his first eight NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings.

The Wolf Pack nearly tied it at 5:45, but Martin Jones (25 saves) smothered Zuccarello's bid out of the right corner. Defenseman Ryan McDonagh then made a nice play, getting back to break up a 2-on-1 at 6:30.

A minute later, Jones denied a wide-open Dane Byers from 30 feet in the slot off a setup by Kris Newbury at 7:36, and then Kozun fired a rebound off the right post at 9:32. Jones made his best save of the game with a reaction stop on Devin DiDiomete with 3:55 left.

Johnson kept it a one-goal game early in the second period with good stops off Corey Elkins cruising down the slot at 4:22 and Justin Azevedo from the right circle at 6:16. The Wolf Pack then got even when they ended their power-play drought as Kennedy passed through the crease to wide-open Dupont, who had an easy finish into an open net with 5:30 left in the period.

"It felt good to score," Dupont said, "but we've got to stay out of the (penalty) box and create more five-on-five."

After Johnson was alert to stop Holloway's deflection of Viatcheslav Voynov's shot with 4:21 to go, the Monarchs reclaimed the lead on another fortuitous bounce as Kolomatis' shot from the right point deflected off Garlock's glove and went into the far side with 2:04 left in the second.

"It was kind of a soft shot from the point, but Ryan made the right play putting his hand up," Johnson said. "It was just one of those bad bounces where I'm playing the puck on one side and it just goes the other way."

Johnson did all he could to end the Wolf Pack's slide, but it just wasn't enough.

"We can't afford to do some things like the unnecessary first penalty (on Newbury at 26 seconds)," Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander said. "We give them a goal right off the get-go, and that's not the way to start the game. I thought Kennedy helped, was strong in the middle, and gives us a bit more depth. Now they have to keep fighting, keep swinging. Sure it's frustrating, but do you think anyone anywhere is feeling sorry for these guys?"

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American Hockey League Stories from November 5, 2010


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