BRAMPTON, ON – The Manchester Monarchs traveled to Brampton, Ontario Wednesday to take on the Brampton Beast for one of the ECHL’s mid-week schoolday games. It took a big third period and a late goal by Zac Larraza but the Monarchs came away with a 4-3 win.
The Beast took control early forcing newly acquired Monarchs goalie Doug Carr to make early saves just to keep the game tied. Just over five minutes into the period, the Beast’s Jeff Brown got one past Carr assisted by Jordan Henry and Scott Howes. The Monarchs turned the momentum and were able to get some solid scoring chances on the Beast, but netminder Trevor Cann kept Brampton ahead.
Danick Paquette put the Monarchs down a man when he went off for charging giving the Beast a power play. Travis Brown picked off a clearing attempt by the Monarchs and took it back and snuck it past Carr for his second goal of the game. As the period wore on the Monarchs seemed in the driver seat of the momentum, but still couldn’t find the back of the net. The first period ended with the Monarchs trailing 2-0, and the shots even at seven.
The second period started with the Monarch getting some early opportunities on Cann, who stopped every one. The teams went back and forth forcing both goalie to make their best saves all night just to keep the game tied.
The Monarchs continued to pound away at the Brampton net, but the bounces just were not going their way. As the period got into the late stages, Gasper Kopitar lead a rush for the Monarchs and slipped the puck to Darik Angeli who scored to get the Monarchs on the board. It was Angeli’s first career goal and it put the Monarchs within one.The second period ended with the scored 2-1 Brampton and the shots 18-16 for the Beast.
The Monarchs came back out for the third period looking for the equalizer in the game. They did not have to wait long as Austin Block scored his second of the season, assisted by Matt Leitner and Alex Roach.
The Beast struck back just a few minutes later when Chris Auger slipped one past Carr assisted by Luc-Olivier Blain and Brandon Marino. After the Brampton goal, the Monarchs kicked into a higher gear and started to generate more opportunities. Cann stayed strong for the Beast, but Brampton’s defense looked tired and slow as the contest reached the midpoint in the third.
The Monarch took advantage of the sloppy play by the Beast, when Paquette scored to tie it assisted by Larraza. The Monarchs continued to hammer the beast in their end and Cann was forced to make saves to keep the game tied for the Beast. The Monarchs continued to pour it on in the final minute of the third and found the back of the net with 20 seconds left in the game when Larraza scored off of assists by Paquette and Josh Brown.
The Monarch hung onto beat the Beast 4-3, with the final shots 26-24 in favor of the Monarchs. The victory was Carr’s first in a Monarchs’ sweater..
Third star of the game went to Brampton’s Travis Brown who had the second goal of the game to give the Beast a 2-0 lead at the time. Second star was awarded to the Monarchs’ Paquette who had the game tying goal and the primary assist on the game winner. First star went to Brampton’s Jeff Brown, he started the scoring off for the Beast in the game.
The Monarchs will look to push their current winning streak to three games when they take on the Elmira Jackals on Friday night in Elmira.
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