MANCHESTER – The Manchester Monarchs current winning streak abruptly concluded on Saturday night thanks to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Worcester Railers.
Only Matt Leitner’s second period power play goal prevented Worcester netminder Mitch Gilliam from earning his third shutout of the year.
Manchester was unable to find the back of the net on their other four power play opportunities, with Worcester’s Jeff Kubiak getting a goal of his own on one of those Manchester power plays early in the second period.
Worcester also obtained goals from Chris Langkow, Matthew Gaudreau and Kellen Jones to tie up their season series with Manchester at six games apiece.
Evan Cowley had 34 saves in his return from the AHL, marking his first appearance for Manchester since late November.
The Monarchs have lost just nine games at home so far this year and four of them have come at the hands of the Railers (24-22-4-3), who end the night at 55 points, six below Wheeling (28-22-5-0) for the final playoff berth in the ECHL’s North Division.
For Manchester (33-17-3-1), the North Division lead is now down to four points after Adirondack’s overtime win against Reading later in the evening.
Reading will seek to rebound from that loss as they face the Monarchs at SNHU Arena on Sunday at 3 p.m.
