MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs couldn’t overcome a Kevin Goumas hat-trick, and fell in a wild game to the Reading Royals, 7-4, Saturday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Max’s Superhero Birthday night.
The Monarchs (36-18-3-5) dropped both games against the Royals (30-23-5-3) this weekend and now sit at 4-5-0-0 on the season against their East Division rivals.
“I thought we started out okay and had some good battle and compete,” Head Coach, Rich Seeley said. “Unfortunately, we just made things harder on ourselves than we needed to as the game progressed. We need to work on making better decisions on the ice, and when we do, we’ll get the results we’re looking for.”
Derek Arnold got the scoring started with his 16th goal of the season at 6:28 of the first period. Reading goaltender, Adam Morrison, failed to connect on a pass to Todd Perry, and the puck went right to Arnold at the top of the right face-off circle where he fired on an open net, scoring before Morrison could get back in position.
Reading capitalized on an Alex Lintuniemi penalty with Brandon Alderson’s 10th goal of the season at 13:12 of the opening period. Alderson got behind the Monarchs defense along the right-wing circle and beat Monarchs goaltender, Colin Stevens, with a backhand goal to the stick-side, tying the game, 1-1, after one period.
Manchester wasted little time regaining their lead when Joey Diamond scored his 17th goal of the season, just :27 seconds into the second period. Michael Boivin centered a pass to Diamond who was in the low slot for the redirect goal, beating Morrison to take the lead, 2-1.
The Royals answered with a quick strike of their own on Jesper Pettersson’s 4th goal of the season, just :43 seconds after the Diamond goal. Pettersson received a pass from Alderson at the bottom of the left face-off circle and buried a one-timer past Stevens to make the game, 2-2.
The wild second period continued with Alex Lintuniemi’s 1st goal of the season at 6:53. Alex Roach sent a pass from the blue line to Lintuniemi who was stationed at the bottom of the left face-off circle, and Lintuniemi fired a shot to the near post that managed to find its way behind the shoulder of Morrison, giving the Monarchs the lead back, 3-2.
Reading tied the game once again when Kevin Goumas scored his 3rd goal of the season at 9:55 of the second period. Goumas skated up the left boards and fired a slap shot from the top of the left face-off circle that beat Stevens glove side, tying the game once again.
The Royals took the lead for the first time in the game when Goumas scored his second of the night at 14:19 of the second period. Goumas slashed through the offensive zone and went in alone on Stevens, faking a backhand shot and going to the forehand to beat the Monarchs goaltender glove-side high, making it 4-3 Reading after two periods of play.
Reading extended their lead on Kevin Sundher’s 4th goal of the season at 9:08 of the third period. Sundher skated into the top of the left face-off circle and fired a slap shot that beat Stevens high glove, giving Reading a 5-3 lead.
The Royals doubled their lead when Cam Reid scored his 17th of the season at 10:21 of the third period. Nick Luukko fired a shot from the blue line that Reid redirected at the top of the crease, beating an off-balance Stevens for the 6-3 Reading lead.
Manchester added a power-play goal from Alex Roach, his 6th of the season, at 17:29 of the third period. On the man-advantage, Roach fired a quick wrist shot through net-front traffic that found its way past Morrison, cutting into the Reading lead.
Reading wasted little time regaining their three-goal advantage when Goumas completed his hat-trick at 18:23 of the third period. Goumas intercepted a Matt Fornataro breakout attempt at the defensive blue line, skated in on goal, made Stevens commit the first move before netting a forehand shot to give Reading the 7-4 victory.
The Monarchs return to action Sunday, March 13 (3 p.m.) against another division rival, this time, the Elmira Jackals.
Notes
- Alex Lintuniemi scored his first professional goal
- Maxim Kitsyn extended his point streak to 14 games (8g, 9a) dating back to Jan. 24 against Adirondack
