MANCHESTER, N.H. (Oct. 5, 2012) – Monarchs forward Jordan Nolan broke a scoreless tie 28 second into the third period, and goaltenders Martin Jones and J.F. Berbue combined to make 17 saves as Manchester defeated the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2-0 at Sullivan Arena on the campus of Saint Anselm College in Manchester. The Monarchs open up their preseason slate with a win, while the Sound Tigers close out exhibition action with a 1-1-0-0 record.

Neither side mustered much offense in the first 20 minutes as the two sides combined for 17 shots in the opening frame. Both teams struggled to establish  a flow within the game, much in part to six minor penalties, two of which canceled out power plays. Kevin Poulin highlighted the action for the Sound Tigers, stopping all 12 shots he faced as the game remained scoreless after the first period.

The physical play ramped up in the second period, as Mike Halmo dropped the gloves with Manchester’s Andy Andreoff after he had mixed things up with Nino Niederreiter. Brett Gallant had his second fight in as many nights, earning a decisive takedown against David Kolomatis at 15:15. The physicality continued through the end of the period, when Richard Clune went after defenseman Aaron Ness and Marc Cantin came to Ness’s defense. Poulin was splendid in net, stopping all 13 shots he faced in the middle frame to keep the game scoreless.

The Monarchs took control of the game in the third, when Jordan Nolan beat Poulin on an odd-man rush 28 second into the final frame. Andrei Loktionov pushed the Manchester lead to two just four minutes later when he gathered a rebound and put it past Poulin.

The Sound Tigers finished the game 0-for-7 on the power play, while Manchester was 0-for-6 on the man-advantage. The Monarchs outshot the Sound Tigers 41-17.

The Sound Tigers next game will be their season opener for the 2012-13 regular season when they travel to Hartford to face the Connecticut Whale on Friday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. The Sound Tigers will raise their Northeast Championship banner the following evening when they open their home schedule against Providence at 7:00 p.m.

FORWARD LINES
Persson – Ullstrom - McDonald
Niederreiter – Nelson – Kabanov
Halmo – Sundstrom – Backman
Gallant – Clark – MacKay

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Ness – Landry
Donovan - Hamonic
McIver – Cantin

GOALTENDERS
Poulin
Reiter
 
MANCHESTER
FORWARD LINES
Toffoli – Vey – Andreoff
O’Neill – Weal – Pearson
Clune – Cliche– Meckler
Nolan – Loktionov – Kozun

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Campbell – Muzzin
Hickey – Delauriers
Kolomatis – Bodnarchuk

GOALTENDERS
Jones
Berube