Moulson Earns His Stripes As He Rebounds Monarchs To Victory
Left wing scored two goals to top the Americans; Manchester is in Binghamton on Saturday
ROCHESTER, NY – Left wing Matt Moulson scored on two rebounds by shots from his defensemen positioned at the points as the Manchester Monarchs battled through to a 3-2 win over the Rochester Americans in front of 8,112 fans at the Blue Cross Arena on Friday night.
Manchester (16-16-4-2) is in sixth place in the Atlantic Division with 38 points. Rochester (11-26-1-2) is ranked seventh in the North Division with 25 points and have lost their last six games.
Moulson picked up his second rebound of the night at 19:39 of the second stanza to advance the Monarchs lead by two goals. Right wing Teddy Purcell fed the puck to defenseman Peter Harrold at the left point for the hard shot on goaltender Adam Dennis. The puck hit the goaltender square in the center of his chest pad and then fell to his skates. Moulson scooped up the rebound and sent a backhand over Dennis as he dove to his left side.
Left wing Kenndal McArdle started the scoring for both teams with his third goal of the season at 8:48 of the opening frame. Right wing Rob Globke battled the Monarchs along the end boards and was able to get a pass off to McArdle at the right face-off circle. McArdle ripped a slap shot past Monarchs goaltender Erik Ersberg for the early lead. Center David Brine earned an assist on the game's first goal.
The Monarchs came back with three straight goals for a 3-1 advantage. Right wing John Zeiler collected his first goal since returning from the Los Angeles Kings for the last seven games. Center David Meckler shoveled the puck up the ice from the left wing boards to a streaking Zeiler. The second year forward's wrist shot was like a lightning bolt as it scorched the netting behind Dennis at 13:22 of the first period.
At the 15:14 mark of the middle frame, Moulson sent a one-timer past Dennis for his 13th goal of the season and first of two goals on the night to give the Monarchs a 2-1 lead. Defenseman Troy Milam kept the puck from escaping the Americans zone and blasted a shot on Dennis. The netminder made the initial save but the rebound bounced directly to Moulson in the left face-off circle.
Following Zeiler's first of the year and two rebounds off the stick of Moulson, Brine tried to get Rochester back in the game with his sixth goal of the season at 4:51 of the final stanza. McArdle fed the puck to the speeding Brine as he skated from the left point into the face-off circle. Once he entered the circle, Brine let off a shot that beat Ersberg on his glove side to bring the Americans to within one tally.
Ersberg earned his 10th win of the season stopping 20-of-22 shots. Dennis took his 11th loss of the season with 25 saves.
Manchester went 0-for-3 on the power play. Rochester was also 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
The Monarchs travel to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena for a 7:05 p.m. face-off with the Binghamton Senators on Saturday, January 12. Catch all of the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network WGIR-AM 610 and at
www.monarchshockey.com. Watch the game live on B2 Networks for just $6 per game. Log onto
www.monarchshockey.com and click on the link to B2 Networks ten minutes prior to each Monarchs game to watch the game live!