Matt White scores a hat trick in the win over the Wings

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Manchester Monarch took on the Kalamazoo Wings on Tuesday night at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo Michigan. Looking to get back in the win column after Sunday’s loss to Brampton, the Monarchs got a huge performance from Matt White to lead them to a 7-3 win.

The Wings came out firing off the opening draw. Alex Mallet picked off a pass and slipped it past Michael Houser to the wings a 1-0 lead just 16 second in. The Monarchs were able to settle down after the early goal to get their offense going.

A little over two minutes after the Wings scored the Monarchs answered with a goal of their own. Troy Power finished the Derek Arnold pass to tie the game, Josh Brown got the secondary assist on the goal.

The teams continued to trade chances looking for a goal to break the tie early. The Wings were able to beat Houser again when Alex Mallet got his second of the game assisted by Brett Ponich and Dane Fox. After the second goal, Houser and the Monarchs settled in defensively.

Charlie Vasaturo put the Monarchs on the power play after taking a slashing minor. The Monarch capitalized on the power play off the stick of Matt White assisted by Alex Roach and Maxim Kitsyn at 11:59. Two and half minutes later the Monarch found the back of the net again as White scored his second of the game assisted by Alex Lintuniemi and Gasper Kopitar.

The Monarchs went into the break leading 3-2, with the shots 14 to 7 in favor of the Monarchs. It didn’t take long for the Monarchs to find the back of the net as the second period started. Just 1:33 in the middle frame Derek Arnold put the Monarchs up by two assisted by Joe Diamond and Stefan Legein.

The Monarchs broke through again when Matt White finished off the hat trick assisted by Gasper Kopitar and Josh Brown. The Wings settled down through the middle of the period and started to generate some offense against Houser. A bad turnover by the Wings defense allowed Matt Leitner to tuck it past Witt to give the Monarchs a 6-2 lead.

The Wings started to generate some offense as the second wore on and forced Houser to make some of his best saves of the net to protect the lead. The period ended with the Monarchs up by four goals and the shots 21-11 in favor of the Monarchs.

Manchester came back out after the break just looking to shut the Wings down. Tanner Sorenson was able to solve Houser to cut the lead to three assisted by Colin Murray. That was the closest the Wings would come to the Monarchs, as Manchester added a goal late from Gasper Kopitar assisted by White and Lintuniemi. The Monarchs would go on to win 7-3 with the final shot totals 29-24 Monarchs.

Third star was Alex Mallet of the Wings with two of the three goals for Kalamazoo in the loss. Second star went to the Monarchs’ Kopitar with a goal and two assists. First star was awarded to White for his hat trick and an assist.

The Monarchs will return home to start a weekend series against the Toledo Walleye the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester New Hampshire.