MANCHESTER -- For a large class of Manchester Monarchs rookies, school is always in session.

Manchester has six rookies on the team and five were in action Friday night, getting a lesson in how not to start a game as Providence scored three first period goals en route to a 4-3 win in the Monarchs' home opener. Manchester hosted Portland last night.

“We'll try to iron out those kinks and see what we can do to make corrections,” said Monarchs head coach Mark Morris. “It's a young bunch and we're not always going to do everything perfect, but I think there's some pretty good lessons to be learned from that one.”

Monarchs captain Marc-Andre Cliche, now in his sixth season, agreed that Friday's game could serve as a teachable moment to the young players.

“It's more experience (to have a game like that). When you get a young team and play in front of a big crowd, maybe you're a little nervous,” Cliche said. “Maybe that's what we saw in the first period. The puck was bouncing a little bit.”

Manchester responded with two early goals in the second period and made the game close late, even hitting a post in the final 30 seconds. The start was not ideal, but the response was a good sign.

“We've got to take the good with the bad,” Morris said. “We still outplayed them for two periods, it's just that we had such a deficit after the first that it was insurmountable.”

The game can be a learning experience even for an older player like goaltender Martin Jones. Though this is his third season and he's been an all-star, this is Jones' first time as the No. 1 goalie.

Morris said he never considered pulling Jones after the first period Friday, even to try and spark the team.

“It's important that Jonesy learns how to battle through that stuff,” Morris said. “He's a young guy and I think we're going to have to lean on him in good times and bad times and he's got to learn to be mentally tough in those situations.”

Jones took responsibility for the tough start, which included a goal 4:44 into the game where Jones had a miscommunication with his defense behind the net and Providence stole the puck and scored easily.

“I didn't hear the call as well as I should have. That's something we work on a lot and something we need to clean up,” Jones said. “At the end of the day, that's a winnable hockey game. We need a couple more saves and to clean up a couple mistakes.”

Jones appreciated being able to finish the game, and rewarded Morris by playing well down the stretch.

“You never want to get pulled out of a game. You always want to finish and it is a battle, especially having a tough first period,” Jones said. “But those are good games where you can battle and come back and finish strong. It's nice to know they're confident in me and let me battle through it and figure it out on my own.”

The Monarchs are off until Saturday when Worcester visits Verizon Wireless Arena for a 7 p.m. game. Manchester will host Binghamton next Sunday at 4 p.m.

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With the elevated talent level of the roster due to the NHL lockout, Morris has some tough decisions to make on a nightly basis. That will only get tougher when Dwight King, signed to an AHL deal on Friday, returns to action next weekend.

On Friday, key veterans David Meckler and Thomas Hickey were healthy scratches along with Jordan Nolan (upper body injury), enforcer Justin Johnson and rookie Nikolay Prokhorkin.

“There's various reasons for making those changes and chances are there will be a few changes (Saturday),” Morris said. “We're just trying to get everybody in and get people involved in the game.”

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Deering's Jon Rheault has hooked on with the San Antonio Rampage in the AHL and has two assists through the first three games of the season. Rheault played the last two seasons in Abbotsford after two stops in Manchester in 2008 and 2010.

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Ian Clark covers pro hockey for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. He may be reached at iclark@unionleader.com.