Jon Matsumoto scored his 10th goal of the of the season and Harri Sateri made 17 saves as the Worcester Sharks were defeated 3-1 by the Atlantic Division rival Manchester Monarchs Friday night at the DCU Center. With the loss, the Sharks now trail the Portland Pirates by eight points for first place of the division and lead the Providence Bruins by one point for second place.
Not forgetting the blindside hit Monarchs rookie Andy Andreoff drilled Sharks forward Curt Gogol with on New Year’s Eve 2012, Sharks enforcer Jimmy Bonneau lined up next to and dropped the gloves with Andreoff in a 30-second battle at center ice as soon as referee Dave Lewis dropped the puck for the opening face-off.
Just 90-seconds after Bonneau’s fight, Matsumoto beat Monarchs goaltender Martin Jones on a breakaway low glove side off a quick snap shot from in-between the face-off circles after corralling a Daniil Tarasov pass in the neutral zone. Brodie Reid was credited with the secondary assist.
Bonneau dropped the gloves for a second time at 9:02, this time against Monarchs enforcer Justin Johnson in a heavyweight battle at center ice. Following the fight, both teams played evenly for a while. The Monarchs tied the game at 7:33 of the second period when forward Linden Vey beat Sateri blocker side with a quick wrist shot from the left face-off circle dot for his ninth goal of the season.
In the third period, the Monarchs took their first lead of the game when rookie Jordan Weal stuffed home a rebound through Sateri’s pads at 7:27 for his fourth goal of the season, which held up as the game-winning-goal, after Sateri had stopped Stefan Legein’s initial shot from deep inside the right face-off circle. The Monarchs added an insurance goal when rookie Tyler Toffoli scored his 19th goal of the season at 18:48 off a one-timer blast in the slot that beat Sateri.
NOTES: Shots were 29-20 in favor of the Sharks… The Sharks went 0-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill… Sateri is now 7-9-2-1 with a 2.82 goals-against-average and .906 save percentage… The teams combined for 30 penalty minutes… Tarasov has a two game point streak (1-1-2)… Sharks rookie Yanni Gourde had a game high five shots on goal… Tommy Grant played in his first game for the Sharks and wore #17… With Bonneau’s two fights, the Sharks now have 46 through 39 games… Taylor Doherty (inj), Sena Acolatse (inj), Danny Groulx (inj), Tim Kennedy (inj), Mike Brennan (inj), Curt Gogol (inj), James Sheppard (SJTC), Nick Petrecki (SJTC), Matt Irwin (SJTC), John McCarthy (SJTC), Matt Pelech (SJTC) and Bracken Kearns (SJTC) did not play for the Sharks… This was the eighth of 12 meetings between the teams this season… The Sharks are 5-3-0-0 against the Monarchs this season, 13-8-1-1 against the Atlantic Division, 8-7-1-2 at the DCU Center and 19-16-1-3 with 42 points overall.
Three Stars
1. Martin Jones – Monarchs (28 saves, Win)
2. Jordan Weal – Monarchs (1-0-1, GWG)
3. Yanni Gourde – Sharks (5 shots on goal)
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