MANCHESTER, NH – Two points each from Maxim Kitsyn, Gasper Kopitar and Matt White, and a tenth-round, shootout goal from Austin Block, gave the Monarchs a 4-3 win over the Toledo Walleye on Sunday, Nov. 15, at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
The Monarchs (6-5-0-0) outshot the Walleye (5-5-0-2) 35-24 during regulation, and took two games of the weekend three-game series.
“The effort was clearly there for us,” Head Coach Rich Seeley said. “We want to play with a high tempo, and when we are doing that, we’re a pretty good hockey club.”
The Monarchs opened the scoring early in the first period, when Joey Diamond netted his 4th goal of the season at 1:18. Diamond found a rebound from an Alex Roach shot that went wide of Walleye goalie Jeff Lerg, and slid the puck low stick-side for a 1-0 Monarchs lead.
Toledo bounced back at 8:03 in the first period, capitalizing on a Kitsyn penalty to make it a 1-1 game. Alden Hirschfield scored the power-play goal for his 6th tally of the season. Marek Tvrdon set up the play by passing the puck to Shane Berschbach, who found Hirschfield in front of the net for a one-time wrister past Monarchs goalie, Patrik Bartosak.
Austin Wuthrich put the Walleye ahead, 2-1, at 14:06 in the first period, scoring his 2nd goal of the season. Bartosak blocked a shot by Ralfs Freibergs, but the puck came out to Wuthrich who beat Bartosak high glove side.
The Monarchs evened the game at 6:01 in the second period, when Kitsyn scored his 4th goal of the season. White sent a shot from the blue line, and Kitsyn was able to tip the shot through the five-hole on Lerg.
White netted his 7th goal of the season to give the Monarchs a 3-2 lead at 13:50 in the second period. To start the play, Kopitar gave the puck to Kitsyn, who found White with a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone. White then skated in on Lerg, netting the puck on the backhand.
A.J. Jenks’ 5th goal of the season tied the game for Toledo at 4:52 in the third period while on the power play. Joel Chouinard sent a shot on Bartosak from the point, and Jenks found the puck and put it past Bartosak low stick side.
The game headed to overtime with the teams trading odd-man rushes, but neither could find the OT winner, despite Manchester having two power play chances.
The game moved to a shootout, and took 10 rounds to settle a winner. For the Monarchs, Kopitar, David Kolomatis and Block found the net, while Bartosak held the Walleye down on multiple do-or-die chances.
The Monarchs return to action Wednesday, Nov. 18 (10 a.m.), as they face the Elmira Jackals on Education Day at the Jungle.
Notes
- The Monarchs took part in their first shootout of the season
- Maxim Kitsyn (1g, 1a) now has points in consecutive games, scoring four points in two games
- The White-Kopitar-Kitsyn line has produced 25 points in six games, dating back to the Nov. 7 game in Brampton.
- Alex Roach played in the 75th professional game of his career, and Matt White skated in his 150th
