MANCHESTER, NH – Two goals in 30 seconds gave the Manchester Monarchs a 2-1 victory over the Brampton Beast in the 2015 home opener at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Friday night.
With the win, the Monarchs (1-0-0-0) take the first of six games against the Beast (0-1-0-0).
“I really liked the way our defense played,” Head Coach Rich Seeley said. “We played solid and moved the puck well in transition. Eventually (our effort) took over, and to me, it came down to winning battles, and we did enough to get the job done.”
The first period ended scoreless, although the Monarchs outplayed the Beast, and outshot Brampton 10-8.
The Beast opened the scoring 59 seconds into the second period to take a 1-0 lead. Yannick Tifu netted the first goal of the game with a shot from inside the right dot that beat Michael Houser high stick-side.
Despite outshooting the Beast for two periods, the Monarchs could not light the goal lamp. Heading into the third period, the Monarchs had 22 shots to the Brampton’s 13.
The Monarchs tied the game midway through the third period, scoring with 7:31 left on the clock. Joey Diamond started the play when he passed the puck to Austin Block behind the net. Block fed Leitner the puck in the right circle, where he was wide open for a one-timer past Brampton goalie Bryan Pitton.
Derek Arnold scored the game-winning goal 30 seconds after Leitner broke the ice for the Monarchs at 12:59. Maxim Kitsyn fed the puck to Robbie Donahoe, who fired on net, but was stopped by Pitton. Arnold found the loose puck off the rebound in front of Pitton and netted his first of the season.
The Monarchs return to action with a home-and-home series with the Adirondack Thunder on Oct. 24-25 in Glens Falls, N.Y. The Monarchs will return to the Jungle for a 3 p.m. face-off Sunday Oct. 25, 2015.
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