Sweep three-game series with Adirondack
MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs completed a three-game sweep of the Adirondack Thunder with a 5-3 victory Monday afternoon at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
The Monarchs (24-10-1-2) now sit 11 points ahead of the Thunder (17-12-3-3) in the North Division, and are the first team in the North to hit 50 points.
The Monarchs opened the scoring at 3:54 of the opening period when Joey Diamond scored his 13thgoal of the season. Diamond look at drop pass from Matt Leitner just inside the top of the left circle where he dragged the puck and sent a wrister over the blocker shoulder of Thunder goaltender, Drew Fielding, to give the Monarchs the early, 1-0, lead.
Adirondack jumped right back to tie the game at 5:33 of the first period when Brett Pollock netted his 7th goal of the season while on the power play. Pollock, who was camped in the slot, took a pass from Stepan Falkovsky from the right half-boards and redirected the puck past the outstretched right leg of Monarchs goaltender, Jonah Imoo, to square the game at 1-1.
The Thunder took their first lead of the game in the second period when Nick Bligh scored his 3rd goal of the season at 4:58 while on the power play. Bligh took a diagonal pass from Peter MacArthur just to the left of the goal, and tipped the puck past Imoo to make the score, 2-1, Adirondack.
Manchester struck back when Zac Lynch scored his 6th goal of the season at 16:33 of the second period. After a turnover in the Thunder zone, Lynch found the puck on his stick in the slot, where he buried a low wrister past the right pad of Fielding to tie the game at 2-2.
The Monarchs retook the lead when Matt Leitner potted his 6th goal of the year at 19:58 of the middle frame while on the power play. With time running out, Leitner took a pass behind the net from Joey Diamond, drifted to the goal line and banked the puck off a Thunder defenseman and past Fielding to send the Monarchs into the 2nd intermission with a 3-2 lead.
Manchester took a two-goal lead when Quentin Shore scored his 13th goal of the season at 9:06 of the third period. Shore finished a tic-tac-toe passing play with Kevin Morris and Cory Ward when he sent a one-timed slap shot from the left dot past the blocker of Fielding to push the Monarchs lead to 4-2.
Adirondack inched closer with a goal at 13:38 of the final frame off the stick of Cullen Bradshaw, his 2nd of the season. Bradshaw sent a shot in on Imoo after he took a pass from Doman Dyukov on the doorstep that the Monarchs goaltender stopped, but Bradshaw continued to poke away and the puck eventually rolled past the line to make the score, 4-3, Manchester.
The Monarchs iced the game when Lynch scored into an empty net with four seconds remaining in the game, handing the Monarchs a 5-3 win.
The Monarchs are back in action Friday, Jan. 20 (7 p.m.), when they begin a three-game series with the Elmira Jackals at SNHU Arena.
Notes
- Rihards Bukarts made his first appearance since Dec. 17, 2016
- Zac Lynch has scored three goals in two games since being assigned by the Springfield Thunderbirds
- Joey Diamond returned to the lineup after missing two games
- Matt Leitner recorded his 65th career assist
