MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs find themselves in a 2-0 series deficit as the Eastern Conference Semifinals shifts to Glens Falls, N.Y., after falling in overtime to the Adirondack Thunder, 4-3, Friday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
“We didn’t play 60 minutes tonight, and when we don’t, we don’t get the results we are looking for,” Head Coach, Rich Seeley, said. “We need to consistently do the little things that made us successful throughout the season, and when we do, I think we’ll like the results.”
The Monarchs jumped out to a quick start when Maxim Kitsyn netted his 1st goal of the playoffs at 1:02 of the first period. Kitsyn found the loose change after a Joey Diamond centering pass bounced off a few bodies, and banged home the ice breaker past Thunder goaltender, Ken Appleby, for the early 1-0 Monarchs lead.
The Thunder struck back at 7:13 of the first period when Michael Kirkpatrick scored his 2nd goal of the playoffs. After a Greg Wolfe partial breakaway was stopped by Monarchs goaltender, Doug Carr, Kirkpatrick found the rebound between two Monarchs defenders and stuffed home the equalizer.
Adirondack grabbed the lead when Mitchell Heard scored his 1st goal of the playoffs at 15:23 of the first period. After a mad scramble in front of Carr’s net, the puck found Heard’s stick, and the Thunder forward made no mistake, sending the puck past a down-and-out Carr, making the score, 2-1, Thunder.
After a scoreless second period, Manchester tied the game up at 8:52 of the third period when Zac Larraza netted his 2nd goal of the playoffs. Larraza found the puck after a Matt Fornataro shot was blocked in the slot, and the rookie skater sent the puck past Appleby’s blocker, tying the score at 2-2.
The Monarchs took the lead when Troy Power scored his 1st goal of the playoffs at 10:05 of the third period. Power took a drop pass from Fornataro high in the slot and sent a wrister on Appleby that the Adirondack goalie stopped, but the rebound came directly back to Power who then fired a wrister over Appleby’s glove for the 3-2 Monarchs lead.
The Thunder stormed back and tied the game when Wolfe netted his 3rd goal of the playoffs at 14:11 in the third period. Directly off of a face-off win, Wolfe sent a wrist shot past the blocker of Carr from the top of the left face-off circle, tying the game, 3-3.
The game would go into overtime, and at 9:40 in the extra frame, Peter MacArthur ended the contest on his 1st goal of the playoffs. MacArthur streaked down the left wing, curled around the net and scored on a wrap-around forehand, ending the game, 4-3.
The Monarchs return to the ice Saturday night (7:30 p.m.) as the series shifts to the Glens Falls Civic Center for Games 3 & 4.
Notes
- The Monarchs killed off a five-minute penalty in the third period
- Maxim Kitsyn extended his home point streak to 13 games (9g, 6a)
- Matt Leitner recorded a point in his first game back with the Monarchs
- The second period was the first scoreless period of the series
