ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Manchester Monarchs were held scoreless in the shootout for the first time this season, and dropped Friday night’s game, 2-1, to the Elmira Jackals on Star Wars Night at First Arena.
The Monarchs (15-8-0-1) ended their four-game road winning streak and now lead the Jackals (15-9-0-0) by only one point in the division standings.
Manchester got the scoring started when Darik Angeli scored his 2nd goal of the season at 13:34 of the first period while on the power play. David Kolomatis started the play by skating the puck to the blue line and finding Yann Sauvé on the opposite point. Sauvé then sent a diagonal pass to Angeli who fired a shot from the left face-off circle past Elmira goaltender, C.J. Motte, low glove.
Elmira brought the game back to even at 15:04 when Allan McPherson scored on the power play for his 6th goal of the season. Monarchs goaltender, Doug Carr, stopped two shots right in front of the cage, but couldn’t corral the rebound, allowing McPherson to poke the puck into the net on the backhand.
The game would remain tied through second and third periods, and neither team could break the tie in overtime.
In the shootout, Austin Block looked to put the Monarchs ahead in the 3rd round, but his shot rang the post, and in the bottom of the third, Kevin Clare made a fantastic backhand-to-forehand deke on Carr and squeaked the puck past the goalies’ right pad for the game winner.
The Monarchs are back in action Saturday, Dec. 12, as they finish their three-game road trip with a matchup against the Adirondack Thunder (7:00 p.m.) in Glens Falls N.Y., the first game of a home-and-home series with the Thunder.
Notes
- Darik Angeli scored a goal in his second consecutive game after not scoring in his first 11 games
- David Kolomatis recorded his 150th professional point
- Danick Paquette earned the 1000th penalty minute of his ECHL career
- The Monarchs lost their first shootout of the season (2-1)
