Monarchs start fast, cruise

MANCHESTER – The Manchester Monarchs turned from turkey to another fowl, feasting on the Springfield Falcons with four first-period goals en route to a 4-2 win last night in front of 5,616 fans at Verizon Wireless Arena.

The Monarchs improved to 14-6-3 -- first place in the Atlantic Division -- while the Falcons fell to 10-8-4. The teams play again tonight in Springfield at 7:30. Manchester returns home on Wednesday to play Portland.

"The start was key to our win tonight. I felt as though periods two and three belonged to Springfield," said Monarchs head coach Mark Morris. "They seemed to settle into their game and we seemed to be satisfied with four goals. But that's the sign of a team that still has lots to learn."

The first period onslaught began at 10:49 with a power play goal from defenseman Patrick Mullen, who notched his first pro goal. Bud Holloway got the puck to Mullen, who managed to put the puck in despite being prone on the ice and sliding toward the goal.

"I kind of was falling down and took a last glimpse at the puck. I didn't really see it. I just swung and got lucky," Mullen said. "I really don't even know how it went in."

Just 20 seconds later it was 2-0 as Marc-Andre Cliche made a pass from the low right side to Drew Bagnall above the left circle. The captain slammed a slapshot past goalie Aaron Sorochan for the score.

At 16:57 the Monarchs struck again with a goal from Cliche. Corey Elkins took a pass from Cliche and drove to the net, taking out Sorochan as he was hooked from behind. Cliche swooped in on the loose puck and fired it into the cage that already contained Elkins and Sorochan.

The fourth goal came at 19:22 as Holloway stole the puck and drove to the net, slipping a pass to Gauthier in the slot for a one-timer that beat Sorochan low as he tried to get across the crease.

►Click here to visit Ian Clark's Monarchs blog, "Puttin' On The Foil."

"It was just one of those nights where the puck kind of comes to you," said Holloway, who had two assists. "It's easy when guys are getting open to get them the puck."

After a scoreless second period, Springfield closed the scoring with the final two goals of the game in the third, spoiling Jonathan Bernier's shutout bid at 7:41.

Bryan Lerg carried the puck out of his own zone, deked around defenseman Joe Piskula and backhanded a shot past Bernier's glove.

Slava Trukhno then scored at 14:58 to make it 4-2, wristing a shot past Bernier from deep on the right side.

"The boys came out flying. But we've got to maintain that effort throughout the whole game," Holloway said. "A win is a win, but we know that we can't have that letdown in the second and third. We've got these guys (tonight) and we've got to work on putting together a full 60 (minutes)."

ONE-TIMERS: The Monarchs' four first period goals were the most in any period this season for the team. The franchise record is five in a period, scored against Saint John back in 2002 . . . fans donated more than one ton of peanut butter and jelly for the New Hampshire Food Bank last night . . . back-to-back fights broke out with 8:24 remaining as Manchester's Juraj Mikus battled Lerg and Monarch Geoff Walker then tangled with Alex Plante . . . Monarchs forward Kevin Westgarth suited up but did not play due to stiffness.