Haydar, Grand Rapids too much for Monarchs

MANCHESTER – Darren Haydar made certain no one had forgotten his prolific scoring skills as the former University of New Hampshire star figured in on both goals and his Grand Rapids Griffins pulled out a 2-1 victory over the Monarchs last night.

In the Griffins' first-ever visit here, left wing Mattias Ritola went to one knee finishing the kick save rebound of Haydar's straight-on drive with 49.5 seconds to play, stunning the 7,181 in Verizon Wireless Arena. Haydar also scored earlier in the period.

The Monarchs (16-15-0-5, 37) ended a three-game home win streak and snapped a streak of points in five consecutive games.

First in the North Division of the Western Conference, Grand Rapids (21-8-4-3, 49 pts.) has the fewest losses in the league. Farm club of the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, the Griffin are following suit with valuable points in nine of their last 10.

After two periods swallowed up by goaltending, the teams traded goal early in the third period.

Haydar, the UNH product and MVP in the AHL last season, tallied an uncontested wide-open goal on the backdoor 2:15 into the third. Defenseman Tom Galvin had faked a right circle shot and instead slapped it to Haydar.

But the Monarchs evened the game, 1-1, only 46 seconds later. Defenseman Davis Drewiske fired a left point slap shot past a crowd in front of the net for his first goal of the season.

Coming in Grand Rapids had shut out four of its last seven opponents. True to form Griffins' goaltender Jimmy Howard (9-8-2) of UMaine was impressive with two periods of shutout work. He made 26 saves in the game.

Monarchs Rookie goaltender Jeff Zatkoff (0-2) out of Miami-Ohio made his debut in the Big V and made 30 saves also shutting out the Griffins through two periods.

NOTES: Monarchs are at the Lowell Devils (New Jersey) today at 4 p.m. ... C Gabe Gauthier returned to action after 10 games out with injury ... While Haydar played his first pro game ever last night in the Big V, it was not his first game here. In December of 2001, less than a month after the building opened he scored a goal for UNH against Dartmouth in the Big V ... Haydar is teamed with a past UNH teammate, D Garrett Stafford ... Griffins G Jimmy Howard was a high school teammate in upstate New York of Mark Morris' oldest son, Michael ... Griffins coach Curt Fraser coached Hubie McDonough for several seasons with the Orlando Solar Bears of the old IHL. McDonough is the Monarchs director of hockey operations.