Monarchs Sent Packing In Hartford
Ryan scores lone goal for Manchester
HARTFORD, CT – The Manchester Monarchs fell to the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-1 in front of 2,236 fans at the XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Manchester (23-20-4-2) is in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with 52 points. Hartford (29-13-2-5) is in second place in the Atlantic Division with 65 points.
Left wing Jordan Owens scored his second goal of the season at 12:59 of the second period to give the Wolf Pack the 2-1 lead midway through the game. Left wing Brodie Dupont collected the puck at the left point from defenseman Dave Liffiton. Dupont's slap shot from the point hit off players on its path to the net. The puck fell free in the slot and Owens pounced on it for the snap shot and the goal.
The Monarchs struck first with center Matt Ryan's sixth goal of the season at 16:17 of the first period. On the power play, defenseman Patrik Hersley shared the puck with his partner along the blueline center Trevor Lewis. With Ryan set up in front of Wolf Pack goaltender Al Montoya, Lewis ripped a slap shot on net. Ryan got wood on the puck and tipped it past Montoya for a 1-0 lead.
With less than a minute remaining in the first period, Hartford evened the battle with a goal by center Mike Ouellete at 19:36. Stealing the puck from the Monarchs defense along Manchester's blueline, Owens skated into the offensive zone. Finding Ouellete skating with him, Owens dropped a pass over to the center for a slick one-timer just inside the left post and past Monarchs goaltender Erik Ersberg.
Right wing Pierre Parenteau scored the insurance goal for the Wolf Pack at 19:25 of the final frame. With Ersberg on the bench for the extra attacker, Parenteau stole the puck along the right wing boards in the Monarchs zone and found the open net for his 19th goal of the season.
Ersberg (10-11-2) took the loss stopping 22-of-24 shots. Montoya (12-8-3) earned the victory with 22 saves.
Manchester went 1-for-3 on the power play. Hartford was 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
The Monarchs host the Philadelphia Phantoms at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Saturday, February 9 at 7:05 p.m. Catch all of the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network WGIR-AM 610 and at
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Monarchs Sent Packing In Hartford 
