MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs continued their weekend series with the Toledo Walleye on Saturday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena. The Monarchs looked to build off of their win Friday night but it was not to be as the visiting Walleye came away with a 6-2 victory. A.J. Jenks led the way for Toledo with a pair of goals while Maxim Kitsyn notched two for the host Monarchs.
The first period started out with both teams trading chances at both ends of the ice as both defenses were tested early. Jasper Kopitar put the Monarchs down a man when he went to the box for tripping at 4:39, giving Toledo a man advantage. The Walleye converted on the power play when Alden Hirschfeld roofed one past Manchester goalie Patrik Bartosak assisted by Marek Tvrdon and Beau Schmitz.
The Monarchs and the Walleye continued to trade chances as the period wore on and the shots on net piled up. Manchester tied the game off of a shot that was poked past Walleye netminder Jake Paterson by Kitsyn assisted by Matt White and Kopitar. But the Walleye bounced back a little over two minutes later when Jenks snuck the puck past Bartosak. The goal was assisted by Shane Berschbach and Jared Nightingale.
The Monarchs continued to battle hard as the period continued but Paterson kept the Walleye’s lead intact. Then with 1:12 left before the intermission, Kitsyn found the back of net. Alex Roach and Kopitar got the assists on the goal that sent the teams to the break tied 2-2. Shots were 13 to 12 in favor of the Monarchs.
The Monarchs came back out in the second looking to solve Paterson and take the lead in the game but their defensive issues once again haunted them as Berschbach scored for the Walleye assisted by Jenks and Kyle Bonis. The Walleye added another early goal two minutes later when Bonis scored a goal of his own assisted by Berschbach.
Adam Paquette took a slashing penalty to the Walleye back on the power play with a chance to put the game out of reach. The Walleye converted again on the power play when Austin Wuthrich fired home a Tyler Sikura pass with the secondary assist being given to Ralfs Freibergs. The Monarch’s frustrating period continued as they couldn’t find a way past Paterson despite fairly constant pressure.
Bartosak made some of his biggest saves in the game prior to the second intermission to keep his team in the game. When the nightmare period finally came to an end, the Monarchs trailed the Walleye 5-2 with the shots 29 to 25 in favor of the Walleye after Toledo put 17 on Bartosak.
The Monarchs looked to put an awful second period behind them as they took the ice for the third. They came out early getting chance after chance on Paterson, but the Walleye netminder was able to keep the puck out. Paterson’s solid play allowed the Walleye to take the game back over and as they began to dominate the Monarchs once again.
With the Walleye all over the Monarchs, Troy Power took a bad slashing penalty to put the Manchester down a man again. The Walleye again scored on the power play, this time it was Jenks with his second of the night assisted by Joel Chouinard and Marek Tvrdon. The Monarchs had a late push but failed to capitalize as Paterson stood tall.
The Walleye finished the game with a 41-38 shot advantage, 29 of them coming in the final two periods. After the game, Kitsyn expressed frustration with his team’s defensive posture throughout the contest.
“I thought we played a solid first period, but second and third we let a lot of odd man rushes and they scored. The gap kept getting larger and I thought we tried to do too much,” Kitsyn said. “It was an unacceptable to play like that in our building. I don’t point fingers but we need five men back protecting the house tomorrow”.
Third star of the game went to Berschbach who had a goal and two assists to help the Walleye to victory. Second star was awarded to Kitsyn for his two goals for the Monarchs and being the only offensive threat late. Jenks with his two goals and an assist while being a thorn in the side of the Monarchs earned first star honors.
The Monarchs will finish the weekend series against the Walleye Sunday afternoon.
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