ALLENTOWN, Pa – The Manchester Monarchs are the top team in the AHL’s Eastern Conference. Their top line of Nic Dowd, Michael Mersch and Sean Backman has accounted for 112 points on the season, but on Sunday afternoon in Allentown, that line captured only 2 points. Paul Bissonnette and Ryan Horvat each had a goal and an assist, and Patrik Bartosak made 19 saves to lead the Monarchs to a 3-1 victory.
Just like Saturday against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the rough stuff started early as a scrum between Blair Jones and the Monarchs’ Nick Ebert netted both players matching 
roughing minors. Lehigh Valley got on the board first at 10:48 on Scott Laughton’s 10th of the season. With only one shot in the period to that point, Laughton skated out from the near side corner and put a shot on Bartosak from the edge of the crease. He collected his own rebound and roofed it to give the Phantoms the lead, but it didn’t last.
Former NHLer Paul Bissonnette collected his first goal of the season on a flukey bounce roughly 6 minutes later. Ryan Horvat took a shot from the point that deflected off of former Phantom Josh Gratton, then Bissonnette who was in front of the net. The Phantoms best chance to tie the game came with 37 seconds left in the period. Austin Fyten and rookie Cole Bardreau had a two on one. Fyten passed through the slot to the rookie, but Bartosak came across the crease in the splits to preserve the tie.
Bisonnette, no stranger to fighting, took on Oliver Lauridsen just 3:27 into the second. It was a great scrap, with both players landing solid punches. Seven minutes later, Manchester took a lead they would not relinquish. Horvat scored his third of the year on assists from Gratton and Bissonnette at 10:38, stepping into the faceoff circle and beating rob zepp with a shot from the dot. The Phantoms’ Jay Rosehill was ejected from the game a the end of the second period when he left the bench to join an Altercation after the horn where the Phantoms go off the ice.
Before the third period started, Lehigh Valley Head coach had an animated discussion with referees Darcy Burchell and T.J. Luxmore about the Rosehill ejection, but he would not discuss it after the game. With 13:50 left in regulation, Taylor Leier had Lehigh Valley’s best shot to tie the game. He came flying down the sot and unleashed a wrist shot, but Bartosak flashed his right pad to preserve the lead. Withabout a minute left, the Phantoms’ pulled Zepp, but Michael Mersch potted his 17th of the season into the empty net from center ice.
Notes: The Phantoms go on the road now until April 8th, when they face the Penguins.
Jason Akeson on the lack of shots, as Lehigh Valley had only nine shots between the third period Saturday and the first two periods today: “It’s a concern for sure. I think we wanna shoot as much as possible. They blocked a lot of shots, so credit to them. We just have to focus on getting pucks through.”
Murray, on stopping the offensive juggernaut that is the Monarchs: “The only way to slow down their cycle is to pin your man, and we didn’t do it very well. That’s the best team in the league. That’s 12 years, 10 years of building a development program. That’s what it’s going to get to here, that’s what it’s all about. They’re first in the league for a reason.
On the lack of shots and if it carried over from Saturday: “I don’t know if it carries over, you know…I would hate to think so. I think it’s just a good team we’re playing here tonight. They have the lowest shots allowed in the league, so it’s not just us they shutdown, they shutdown every team in the league. That said, our decisions with the puck, making better plays through the center of the ice…I think that plays into it big time. That’s part of the stuff we have to talk about.”
On the play of Manchester’s fourth line: “Their fourth line out played our fourth line tonight. That’s what it is, post all-star game and you get into the playoffs, you need depth and secondary scoring. We talked about it last night and it showed for them tonight.”
On the maturation of rookie defenseman Robert Hagg: “Robert is starting to come, you can’t ever forget he is 19 years old. His game is growing. Maybe we always want faster, quicker development but from the start of the season his role has taken on more. He’s a player that’s played in the Elite League in Sweden, He knows how to deal with high skill players like (Manchester’s) Weal and O’Neill. They’re very nifty guys with a lot of speed and I think that the reads he made against those guys tonight are pretty consistent with someone who can play against skilled players. So, he did a pretty good job.”
3 Stars: 3) LV-Scott Laughton (Goal) 2 MNC-Paul Bissonnette (Goal and an Assist) 1) MNC-Ryan Horvat (Goal and an Assist)
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