MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs beat the Reading Royals, 3-2, Saturday night at SNHU Arena in Game 2 of the North Division Semi-Finals.
The Monarchs (2-0) beat the Royals (0-2), 3-2, in double overtime for the second-consecutive game, to take a 2-0 series lead.
The Royals opened the scoring at 6:32 of the first period on the first goal of the playoffs by Adam Schmidt. Shorthanded, Schmidt capitalized on a turnover at the blue line and skated in on a breakaway where he let a wrister fly past the glove of Monarchs goaltender Charles Williams to make the score 1-0.
The Monarchs tied the game at 11:13 of the second period on the first goal of the playoffs by Michael Doherty. From the top of the right circle, Colton Saucerman fired a slapshot, where Doherty found the rebound in the slot and put a backhander past the glove of Royals goaltender John Muse to tie the game at 1-1.
The Monarchs took the lead at 13:28 of the second period on the first goal of the playoffs by David Kolomatis. On the power play, Williams left the puck in the corner for Kolomatis who went end-to-end where he let off a wrist shot from inside the right circle that went five-hole on Muse to give the Monarchs a 2-1 lead.
The Royals tied the game at 17:38 of the second period on the first goal of the playoffs by Matt Willows, on the power play. Chris McCarthy skated from the point, down to the bottom of the left circle, where he filtered a pass into the slot, that Willows rang off the post behind Williams. The puck bounced off the back of Williams and across the goal line to tie the game at 2-2.
After a scoreless first overtime, Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman netted his first goal of the playoffs at 16:08 of the second overtime. The puck found the stick of LaVallee-Smotherman, during a scrum at the right post, where he took a shot into the crowd beside the net and the puck snuck behind Muse to give the Monarchs a 3-2 win.
The Monarchs travel to Reading, PA for Game 3 against the Royals on Monday, Apr. 16th at 7 p.m. at Santander Arena.
NOTES: The Monarchs played their 5th longest game in franchise history, one game after playing their 4th longest… Charles Williams made 39 saves on 41 shots… John Muse made 53 saves on 56 shots.
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