MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs opened a weekend series with the Toledo Walleye at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday night. Looking to build on Tuesday’s win over Kalamazoo, the Monarchs did so with a 5-4 victory over the Walleye.
The Monarchs and the Walleye traded chances back and forth throughout the first period without either team being able to find the back of net. Both goalies – Michael Houser for Manchester and Jeff Lerg for Toledo – were forced to come up with big saves early to keep their teams in the game. The Monarchs finally found the back of net when Derek Arnold slipped one pass Lerg, assisted by Danick Paquette and Zac Larraza.
Joel Chouinard put the Walleye down a man when he took a hooking minor at 13:16 of the first. Yann Sauve scored on the power play for the Monarchs assisted by Stefan Legein and Matt Leitner. The Walleye started to pick up the pressure, but couldn’t find a way to solve Houser or the Monarchs defense.
Late in the period a Monarchs defensive turnover lead to A.J. Jenks taking the puck down and slipping one past Houser to cut the lead to one. The period ended with the Monarchs leading 2-1 and the shots 11-9 in favor of the Walleye. The Monarchs came back out in the second looking to add to their lead.
The Walleye started off the second period all over the Monarchs in their own defensive zone. Houser was tested early and pummeled with several shots before the Walleye finally broke through when Kyle Bonis fired one past Houser assisted by Shane Berschbach and A.J. Jenks.
The Monarch went back on the power play when Tyler Sikura went to the box for hooking. On the ensuing power play, the Walleye were able to hem the Monarchs in their zone. Alden Hirschfeld took advantage, scoring a short-handed goal to give the Walleye the lead with Jenks getting the lone assist. The Monarchs continued to pressure the Walleye but could put another one past Lerg as the second period ended with the Walleye leading 3-2 and the shots 27-22 in favor of the Monarchs.
The Monarchs came out in the third looking to continue their onslaught of pressure in the offensive zone. It worked when Legein scored just 56 seconds into the period assisted by Joe Diamond and Leitner.
The goal tied the game for the Monarchs who followed with even more pressure looking to get the lead back. Unfortunately, the Monarchs’ defense continued to struggle in its own end. The Walleye took the lead again at the 6:04 mark when Chouinard scored assisted by Hirschfeld.
After that goal, the Monarchs started to tighten up defensively and looked better then they had all night in their own end. Four minutes later, Larraza tied the game for the Monarchs assisted by Alex Roach and Paquette. Fifty-nine second later, the Monarchs struck again when Michael Bolvin scored to give them the lead off assists from Leitner and Diamond.
The Walleye continued to pressure the Monarchs, but the defense and Houser came up huge late in the game. Manchester was able to hang on for the 5-4 victory with the final tally of shots 40-32 in the favor of the Monarchs.
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Third star A.J. Jenks, he had a goal and an assist for the Walleye in the loss. Second star Stefan Legein, he had a goal and assist for the Monarchs to help get them back even in the third period. First star Michael Bolvin, he scored the game winning goal for the Monarchs and helped push them over the Walleye.
Game two of this weekend series will start on Saturday night when these two teams meet again at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
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