MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Manchester Monarchs couldn’t make a furious third period comeback and the first career hat-trick for Matt Leitner stand up, and fell to the Elmira Jackals in overtime, 5-4, Friday night at SNHU Arena.

The Monarchs (24-10-2-2) dropped their third game of the season to the Jackals (9-22-5-0), and snapped their eight-game home winning streak with the loss.

“Tonight’s effort was frustrating,” Monarchs Head Coach, Rich Seeley, said. “There is a silver lining in taking a point out of a game you’re down by three in the third period, but we can’t play 20-25 minutes in a game and expect to take a point most nights.”

The Jackals opened the scoring at 11:30 of the first period with a power-play goal from Sam Povorozniouk. Picking up the puck from Sebastien Sylvestre, Povorozniouk skated down the left boards to the goal line where he roofed the puck under the crossbar past the glove of Monarchs goaltender, Jonah Imoo, for his 14^th goal of the season.

The Jackals extended their lead when Ian Young scored his 1^st goal of the season at 15:10 of the first period. Casey Thrush set up Young skating into the slot, where he put a backhander five-hole on Imoo to put the Jackals up, 2-0.

The Jackals took a 3-0 lead at 19:37 of the second period with a goal from Greg Amlong. Steven Kaunisto slid the puck along the blueline to Amlong, and from the the top of the right circle, Amlong took a slap shot that trickled five-hole through Imoo for his 2^nd tally of the season.

Leitner put the Monarchs on the board at 4:07 in the third period when he scored his 7^th goal of the season to make it a 3-1 game. Craig Wyszomirski sent the puck on net from the blueline, and Leitner picked up the rebound in the low slot where he sent a wrister past Jackals goaltender, Andy Iles, for his 7^th goal of the season.

The Monarchs cut further into the Jackals lead when Leitner recorded his 2^nd goal of the night and 8^th goal of the season at 6:06 while on the power play. Teddy Doherty took a slap shot from center ice that hit the end boards, and the puck bounced directly to a crashing Leitner where he sent a one-timer past Iles to make the score, 3-2, Jackals.

The Monarchs brought the game back to even when Leitner scored a natural hat-trick-goal at 12:57 in the third period. Connor Hardowa took a slap shot from the right point that Leitner tipped in the slot to tie the game, 3-3.

The Monarchs took their first lead of the game when Quentin Shore scored his 15^th goal of the season at 14:34 in the third period. Shore connected on a one-timer off a pass from Alexx Privitera just inside the left face-off circle, and beat Iles’ blocker to make the score, 4-3, Monarchs.

Kenton Miller tied the game for the Jackals with his 11^th goal of the season to make it a 4-4 game at 18:42 in the third period while skating 6-on-5. Miller redirected a shot from the point by Davis Vandane in the slot, and beat Imoo’s glove to square the game, 4-4.

The teams headed to overtime and Matt Lane scored the game-winning-goal for the Jackals at 1:46 of the extra frame. Imoo made the initial save off a shot from Povorozniouk, but the puck bounced over his head where Lane found the loose puck sitting behind Imoo and tapped it in for his 5^th goal of the season to end the game.

The Monarchs are back in action Saturday night (6 p.m.), when they play the middle game of a three-game set against the Elmira Jackals on LA Kings Night. The first 4,000 fans in SNHU Arena will receive a Tyler Toffoli bobblehead giveaway, as the Monarchs honor their parent club, and the former Monarchs on the Kings.

Notes

The Monarchs home winning-streak ended at eight games

Matt Leitner recorded the 1^st hat-trick of his career in his 100^th career game

Quentin Shore is riding a four-game goal streak

Joey Diamond recorded his 65^th career assist

-Monarchs-

Photo Credit: Rich Tilton