Final Score: Manchester 3, Norfolk 1
Scratches:
Stefan Noesen (knee), Garnet Exelby (upper body), Alex Grant (upper body), Brad Staubitz (healthy), Charlie Sarault (healthy), and Joe Cramarossa (healthy).
Starting Line-up:
Matt Belesky-Chris Wagner-Max Friberg and Mat Clark with Kevin Gagne
Game Tidbits:
- Viktor Fasth and Matt Belesky are joining the team on “long term conditioning assignments”.
- Dave Steckel had his longest bus ride to a game since he began professional career.
- The Admirals are currently LAST in the AHL standings of “shots for”
- The previous line of Maxime Sauve-Peter Holland-Max Friberg has been split up. (not sure why because it seemed rather productive).
- Stefan Warg has rejoined the team
- Monarch’s coach Mark Morris is now the 17th coach to win 300 games in the AHL and the collegiate level
- Today’s game was the earliest scheduled game of the AHL season this year (10 am EST)
- The Monarchs lead the conference.
First Period:
Fasth was put to the test early as the LA Kings‘ affiliate fired off seven shots before the three minute mark of the game. It took the Admirals seven minutes and 40 seconds to get their first shot on goal. In that time the Admirals failed miserably on the first power play of the game.
At 15:05 in the period the puck was called off the cross bar and play continued. After a natural stoppage of play it was decided that the "cross bar deflection" would be reviewed. It was determined a goal over the left shoulder of Fasth.
Nolan Yonkman made his presence known as he got down and dirty with Nick Deslauriers. Mitts dropped and Yonkman threw some huge rights before Deslauriers ended up against the boards asking the referees to step in and help. Good for him it wasn’t Zack Stortini he was facing. Both players were assessed with fighting majors.
The Monarchs are not known for fighting or for penalties and the Admirals had such a hard time keeping up with their speed, they didn't have time to commit infractions. With only three penalties in the period, 20 minutes passed by extremely quickly.
The Monarchs out shot the Admirals 16-3 for the 1-0 lead. Yes, you read that correctly.
Intermission Interview:
Steckel had some very strong words regarding 2-way play during his intermission report interview. He talked about having to be responsible and being told that he would get far if he was a liability to his team. His basic gist was that if you are a liability in anyway you won't play as much as the guys who aren't liabilities, if you play at all.
Second Period:
Manchester opened the period with a lot of shots again. At 2:27 into the period Brian O'Neil beat Fasth high on the glove side to put the Monarchs ahead 2-0.
Belesky answered back at 9:53 in the period to bring the Admirals within one. In his first game with the Admirals, Belesky scored his first goal. Here's hoping he can keep going. He was assisted by Friberg and Yonkman.
O'Neil went top shelf again on Fasth for his second goal of the game to put the Monarchs up 3-1 with just over seven minutes remaining in the second.
Fasth left the game at 15:02 and went straight to the dressing room. The team trainer remained on the bench with the team but there was no sign of who wanted Fasth out of the game. Before leaving, Fasth faced 31 shots. [Ed. Note: Per Eric Stephens, Boudreau was told that Fast left the game with a headache. Bad sign. -CK]
The period ended with Chris Wagner in the penalty box for hooking with 12 seconds of carry over time. There was also a scuffle which had Whitney and Steckel outnumbered by 4 Monarchs. No mitts were dropped but there was some shoving.
The Admirals did manage to fire off 11 shots in the second period versus the 17 from the Monarchs.
Third Period:
The Monarchs played a completely defensive period. They protected their lead and stopped all 10 shots from the Admirals.
The nine shots by the Monarchs weren't really coming from pressure, they just happened. The pace slowed and there was only one penalty in the period, it wasn't against the Admirals!
Gibson stopped all 12 shots he faced in his 24:08 relief minutes of Fasth. The defense was missing two key components with Exelby and Grant out, hopefully they are back soon.
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Three Stars:
3rd Star: G- Jean-Francois Berube (Man)
2nd Star: Ian O’Connor (Man) 2 assists
1st Star: Brian O’Neil (Man) 2 goals
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Iceholes: Perspective notes:
In a game where the #6 team plays the #1 team in the conference it’s hard to really get down on the guys. They managed to accumulate only two penalties for only seven minutes!
They couldn’t manage to make anything happen on the Power Play, but they didn’t give up short handed goals either.
There were noticeable changes in the lineup for the Admirals and I think they played like a team with new lines and not enough chemistry on most all accounts. The coach also made adjustments to the lines on the fly (this is becoming regular) and it seems as though the team still isn’t responding to the changes well.
The Admirals have extended their losing streak to 3 games, the longest of the season.
The Admirals play again on Friday, Nov 15 in Providence against the Bruins at 7:05pm EST. You can watch the game live on the AHL website or you can listen on the WXTG FM mobile app.