MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs received two goals from Mark Anthoine and a solid effort from Michael Houser, en route to a 3-1 win over the Orlando Solar Bears on American Pride Night at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
Manchester (36-16-2-4) outlasted the Solar Bears (24-23-3-5) in the middle game of their three-game weekend series, and pushed their season record against Orlando to 4-0-1-0.
“I thought we played a strong game,” Head Coach, Rich Seeley, said. “We had great goaltending and we were tested early on, but we gained momentum when we scored the first goal and played much better once we had the lead. We got in some trouble late in the game with penalties, but all-in-all, I thought it was a solid 60 minutes for our team.”
Manchester got the scoring started with Matt Fornataro’s 5th goal of the season at 14:28 of the first period. Michael Boivin sent a pass between the face-off circles to Fornataro who was parked below the left dot, where he fired home a one-timer past Solar Bears goaltender, Rob Madore, to give the Monarchs the 1-0 lead after one period.
The Monarchs extended their lead on Anthoine’s 7th tally of the season at 16:48 of the second period. The goal was thanks in large part to a Matt MacKenzie stretch pass from the top of the defensive zone face-off circles that found a streaking Anthoine, who skated in all alone on Madore, beating him five-hole, giving the Monarchs a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
Manchester added to their lead when Anthoine intercepted an errant pass in the defensive zone, and scored his 8th goal of the season and 2nd of the game at 9:10 of the final frame. Anthoine skated in uninhibited on Madore and who made the initial save but was unable to secure the rebound, giving Anthoine a second attempt that he buried to give Manchester the 3-0 lead.
Orlando cut into the Monarchs lead on Brenden Miller’s 2nd goal of the season at 16:37 of the third period. Patrick Watling sent a shot toward the net that was knocked down in front of the goal crease by Miller who secured the puck and beat Monarchs goaltender, Michael Houser, which proved to be the game’s final goal.
The Monarchs will conclude their three-game series with the Solar Bears on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m.) on TD Bank Night at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
Notes
- Mark Anthoine scored two goals in a game for the second time this season, the first since Jan. 9 at Elmira (2g, 2a)
- Manchester improved to 23-4-0-2 when scoring the first goal of the game
- The Monarchs are now 23-0-0-2 when leading after two periods
- Manchester is now 31-3-0-1 when scoring three or more goals
