MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs closed out their three game series with the Reading Royals with a Sunday Matinee at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Making his first professional start, Monarchs goalie Steve Mastalerz came up with 23 saves to backstop Manchester to a 4-2 victory.
The Monarchs defense came up huge early in the opening period by blocking shots, giving Mastalerz a chance to settle into the game and get comfortable. The teams traded chances throughout the period, but both goalies and defenses came out with some great plays. As the period was winding down, Pavel Padakin, who had just come back from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms picked off a pass and took it back and slipped it past Mastalerz for the goal. The first period ended with the Monarchs trailing the Royals 1-0 and the shots 8-7 in favor of the Royals.
The Monarchs came back out for the second period looking to find the back of the net and tie the game. It didn’t take long for that to happen as Zac Larraza scored assisted by Michael Leitner and David Kolomatis.
The Monarchs took that momentum and started to create more and more chances for themselves in the Royals zone. The confused Royals were called for having too many men on the ice while trying to get the right guys out as the Monarchs came back on the attack. The Monarchs were able to convert on the power play as Maxim Kitsyn scored with the assists going to Leitner and Michael Boivin.
It only took the Royals ten seconds to tie the game as Mike Pereira picked off a defenseman-to-defenseman pass and slipped it past Mastalerz for the goal. From that point on the Royals were all over the Monarch,s pounding Mastalerz with shots from all areas of the ice. The young goalie was forced to come up with some huge saves in the second as he was under pressure for most of it. The second period ended with the score tied 2-2 and the shots 23-14 for the Royals.
The Monarchs came back out looking to get an edge and hold off the Royals onslaught as the final period opened. Manchester was given a power play when Adam Comrie was sent off for tripping. The Monarchs scored on the power play to take the lead, this time it was Yann Sauve assisted by Leitner.
The teams went back and forth as the period wore on, but both goalies kept it close. The Royals pulled their goalie with just over a minute left in the game. Derek Arnold iced the game for the Monarchs with an empty net tally assisted by Matt McKenzie and Josh Brown.
The Monarchs would hang onto win the game 4-2, with the final shots 32-25 for the Royals. Third star went to Manchester’s Larraza who got the scoring started for the Monarchs in the second period of the game. Second star was awarded to the Monarchs’ Sauve for scoring what would be the game-winner. The first star belonged to Leitner who had three assists in the game and was one of the major factors in the Monarch victory.
The Monarchs will travel to Brampton, Ontario to take on the Brampton Beast on Thursday.
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