MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Manchester Monarchs received four points from David Kolomatis, and beat the Florida Everblades 7-3 Wednesday night at SNHU Arena.
The Monarchs (11-4-0-1) beat the Everblades (10-2-1-2) in the first-ever meeting between the two franchises.
“I thought we came out and executed well early on,” Monarchs head coach Rich Seeley said. “We were able to establish the way we wanted to play in the first and second periods, and we were ultimately able to finish the game the right way.”
The Monarchs opened the scoring when Quentin Shore netted his seventh goal of the season at 5:17 of the first period. Shore was wide-open in the slot after a pass from Cory Ward out of the right corner, and buried a wrister past Everblades goaltender, Anthony Peters for an early 1-0 Monarchs advantage.
Manchester added to its lead when Zac Lynch scored his first goal of the season at 18:46 of the first period while on a 5-on-3 power play. Lynch deflected a shot from the blue line off the stick of Kolomatis and beat Peters to make the score 2-0 Manchester.
Kolomatis added to the Monarchs lead when he scored his second goal of the season 17 seconds after Lynch’s tally, this time on a 5-on-4 power play. Kolomatis took a pass in the slot from Lynch and sent a wrister over the blocker shoulder of Peters, making the score 3-0.
Florida got on the board when Mike Ferrantino scored his third goal of the season with 18 seconds remaining in the opening frame. Eric Sheid sent a puck in the direction of the Monarchs cage, but the puck hit Ferrantino in the slot and redirected past Monarchs goaltender Sam Brittain to make the score 3-1 Monarchs.
The Monarchs regained their three-goal lead when Rihards Bukarts scored his first goal of the season at 3:02 of the second period. Bukarts took a pass out of the right corner from Daniel Ciampini, carried the puck backwards into the slot, and beat Peters with a wrister, pushing the Monarchs advantage to 4-1.
The Everblades cut into the Monarchs advantage when John McCarron recorded his sixth goal of the season at 7:31 of the second period. McCarron grabbed the rebound off a shot by Josh Wesley that Brittain couldn’t hold and sent the puck into an open net.
Manchester took their third three-goal lead when Kolomatis scored his second goal of the night at 8:41 of the middle frame. Kolomatis took a seemingly harmless shot from the right point that found its way through traffic and Peters, giving the Monarchs a 5-2 lead.
Matt Hatch brought the Everblades back to a two-goal deficit when he scored his first goal of the season at 12:57 of the second period. Hatch played give-and-go with Matt Berry and sent a one-timer past Brittain from the slot, making the score, 5-3, Monarchs.
Matt Leitner added to the Monarchs lead when he scored his second goal of the season at 12:41 of the third period while on the power play. Leitner took a pass from Joey Diamond in the slot and sent a wrister past new Everblades goaltender Matt Skoff, giving the Monarchs a 6-3 lead.
The Monarchs closed things out when Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman scored his second goal of the season at 15:50 of the final frame. LaVallee-Smotherman carried the puck down the left wing into the Florida zone, dangled around an Everblades defenseman, and sent a wrister past the blocker of Skoff, putting the Monarchs up for good at 7-3
The Monarchs are back in action on Friday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. when they continue their two-game series with the Florida Everblades at SNHU Arena on Black Friday.
Notes: David Kolomatis scored two goals for the first time since Oct. 13, 2012 and his four points is a game-high for the Monarchs this season… Rihards Bukarts scored in his first game with the Monarchs… Anthony Peters was pulled 8:41 into the second period… Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman scored for the second-consecutive game.
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