Monarchs worthy of an Oscar

IAN CLARK – Holy Moller.

Manchester Monarchs center Oscar Moller scored on a penalty shot with 1:51 remaining to give the Monarchs a 2-1 win over Providence in front of 5,015 fans at Verizon Wireless Arena last night.

Manchester is now 8-2-0 and will host Worcester tonight at 7 p.m. Providence fell to 4-4-1. The Monarchs beat Providence 3-0 last weekend.

"I thought the Bruins came at us with a lot more energy than last time," said Monarchs head coach Mark Morris. "They put us back on our heels in the third period. But we weathered the storm."

Pulled down from behind on a breakaway after making a steal in his own end, Moller was awarded the penalty shot. Moller made several moves on his advance, getting goalie Dany Sabourin to the ice before firing the puck low through the five-hole.

"Once you take the puck and skate up the ice, you don't think," Moller said. "I was trying to fake the shot and lift my stick and see his reaction and he went down so I saw the legs open up and found a hole there."

That came four minutes after Monarchs goalie Jonathan Bernier (28 saves) came up big to keep the game tied 1-1. Bruins right wing Craig Weller broke in alone on Bernier. Weller cut to the right and went for the upper part of the net but was denied by the stacked pads of Bernier.

The Monarchs had to hold on for dear life after Moller's go-ahead goal. Matching penalties with 1:39 remaining made it a four-on-four situation. Providence pulled Sabourin, essentially creating a power play that generated several shots. But none could beat Bernier.

"We called a timeout in the last minute so we could rest our top guys," Morris said. "It's one those scenarios where it's all or nothing for them. They executed very well and maintained possession and our guys were in position."

The Monarchs took a 1-0 lead at 15:52 of the first period on John Zeiler's second goal of the season. Defenseman Viatcheslav Voynoz sent the puck on net from the high right point and Zeiler tipped it in from the low slot.

Providence came right back, tying the game less than two minutes later on a Guillaume Lefebvre tally. A chip shot on net from the left side by Andy Wozniewski was deflected, coming to Lefebvre on the open right side for a stuff-in goal before Bernier could get over.