Taylor Denies The Devils
Defense plays a vital role in Monarchs victory
MANCHESTER, NH – Goaltender Daniel Taylor extended his shutout streak to 185 minutes and 41 seconds as the Manchester Monarchs beat the Lowell Devils 4-0 in front of 6,809 fans at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Friday night. The win was the second consecutive shutout victory in Manchester for the Monarchs after losing six in a row at home.
Manchester (21-18-4-2) is tied for fourth place in the Atlantic Division with 48 points. Lowell (13-24-4-4) is in seventh place in the Atlantic Division with 34 points.
One goal was all it took for the Monarchs to put away the Devils. Center Gabe Gauthier deflected his 14th goal of the season past netminder Jordan Parise at 11:06 in the first period. Center Scott Parse tallied his first point on the season when he fired a cannonading slap shot at the basket. Gauthier got his stick on the puck and put it top shelf for the first lamp lighter of the night. Defenseman Troy Milam was also credited with an assist.
Right wing Cam Janssen was in the box for hooking when defenseman Peter Harrold and Milam were able to find Gauthier for his second goal of the night. Gauthier took a bad angle shot from the right side of Parise. The blast ricocheted off the right skate of the goaltender and into the back of the net. The goal snapped a streak of 20 straight power plays without a goal for the Monarchs who are ranked first in the AHL when they have the man advantage.
Center Brian Boyle earned his 20th goal of the year when he scored shorthanded at 16:38 in the third period. Boyle came down the left wing with several Devils in the zone and threw a shot on net. Parise managed to stop the shot but Boyle gathered the rebound and skated behind the net. With the netminder still to his right, Boyle wrapped the disc around the opposite side and into the net unassisted.
The barrage did not stop there as right wing Lauri Tukonen tallied his fourth goal of the year. Boyle worked the puck behind the net and eventually found Tukonen stationed in the left circle. The Finland native threw the puck up and into the top of the net. The assist was Boyle's 21st of the year.
Taylor earned the shutout as he denied 32-of-32 shots on net. Parise took the loss stopping 25-of-29 shots that came toward him.
Manchester went 1-for-3 on the power play. Lowell was 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
The Monarchs continue their three-game home stand with their next game on Saturday, January 26 against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with the puck dropping at 7:05 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Arena. 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!
Taylor Denies The Devils 
