MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs dominated play throughout Game 4 and beat the Brampton Beast, 6-1, Tuesday night at SNHU Arena.
The Monarchs (7-3) took a commanding 3-1 series lead in the North Division Finals over the Beast (5-5).
Manchester started the scoring with a power-play goal by Matt Leitner, his 5th goal of the playoffs, at 11:40 of the first period. Daniel Ciampini entered the offensive-zone along the left wing before sending a pass to Zac Lynch in the high slot where he wristed a shot on net. Beast goaltender, Zachary Fucale, stopped the Lynch blast, but Leitner picked up the loose puck in the crease and beat Fucale on his second shot attempt to give the Monarchs a 1-0 lead.
At 16:40 of the first period, the Monarchs extended their lead when Daniel Doremus scored his 3rd goal of the playoffs, a power-play goal. Doremus found the loose puck at the top of the crease and shot it off the left leg of Fucale. The rebound shot into the slot and bounced off Brandon Marino’s skate and into the net to put the Monarchs up, 2-0.
The Monarchs added to their lead at 15:49 of the second period on a power-play goal by Kevin Morris. David Kolomatis took a wrist shot from the middle of the point that was tipped in front of the net by Doremus into the pads of Fucale. Morris found the rebound on his stick to the right of the goal and sent it past Fucale to make it, 3-0, Monarchs.
The Beast scored their first goal of the night at 7:32 of the third period when Luc-Olivier Blain scored his 1st goal of the playoffs. Chris Auger skated along the left wing into the offensive-zone and floated a pass into the slot that Blain tipped past Monarchs goaltender, Sam Brittain, to make the score, 3-1, Monarchs.
Manchester answered back at 10:17 of the third period when Ashton Rome scored his 3rd goal of the playoffs. Tyler Sikura centered a pass from behind the Brampton goal where Cory Ward sent a one-timer on net. The rebound bounced to Rome who was sitting on the doorstep, where he pushed the puck past Fucale to put the Monarchs up, 4-1.
At 14:29 of the third period, the Monarchs extended their lead to 5-1, when Tyler Sikura scored a short-handed empty-net-goal. Brampton’s Connor Crisp sent a breakout pass up the middle of his defensive-zone that was intercepted by Sikura, who looked at an open net from the top of the circle to give the Monarchs a 5-1 lead.
At 19:16 of the third period, the Monarchs added another empty-net-goal when Rome scored his second goal of the night. After Rome jumped out of the penalty box, he received a pass from Doremus on the right wing and buried the 6th goal of the night for the Monarchs.
The Monarchs look to clinch the North Division Finals at SNHU Arena on Wednesday, May 3 (7 p.m.), when they play Game 5 against the Brampton Beast.
Notes
- The Monarchs scored three power-play goals
- 11 Monarchs found themselves on the scoresheet
- The Monarchs scored two empty-net-goals
- Tyler Sikura scored the 2nd short-handed goal of the playoffs for the Monarchs
