READING, Pa. – The Manchester Monarchs received stellar goaltending from Jonah Imoo, en route to a 4-2 victory over the Reading Royals on Wednesday night at Santander Arena.

The Monarchs (18-8-1-1) pushed their unbeaten streak against the Royals (14-11-1-1) to six games, and have now secured the season series with their North Division Rivals.

The Monarchs opened the scoring when Cory Ward netted his 7^th goal of the season at 5:44 of the first period. After playing catch with Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman to enter the zone, Ward crashed the net and found the rebound from a LaVallee-Smotherman shot to the right of Royals goaltender, Mark Dekanich, where he tapped in the puck to put the Monarchs on top, 1-0.

Rick Pinkston extended the lead to 2-0 for the Monarchs at 8:38 in the second period with his 2^nd goal of the season. Kevin Morris passed the puck to Quentin Shore behind the net who found Pinkston in the right-wing circle for a one-timer past Dekanich.

The Royals cut in to the Monarchs lead with a power-play goal from Matt Wilkins at 12:46 in the second period. Imoo made the save on the initial shot off the stick of Florian Iberer from the blue-line, but couldn’t stop Wilkins’ shot to the far-post on the rebound to make the score, 2-1, Monarchs.

The Monarchs took their two-goal lead back when Teddy Doherty netted his 3^rd goal of the season at 15:48 in the second period. Doherty found the puck on his stick after a Derek Arnold shot was deflected to him near the bottom of the left face-off circle, and the first-year defenseman ripped a one-timer that beat Dekanich to make the score, 3-1.

The Royals made it a one-goal game when Iberer netted his 5^th goal of the season at 15:28 in the third period. Iberer took a cross-ice pass from Matt Willows and had nothing but an open-net to slide the puck into, to make the score, 3-2, Monarchs.

Daniel Ciampini iced the game for the Monarchs when he potted an empty-net-goal at 19:19, his 9^th marker of the campaign. The goal didn’t come easy as Ciampini had to make a diving attempt to swat the puck away from a Royals defender, but the Monarchs leading scorer was rewarded for his effort when the biscuit found the cage for the game-ending goal.

The Monarchs are back in action Friday night (7:05 p.m.), when they end their three-game road trip in Elmira when they take on the Jackals in their final game before the Christmas break.

Notes

Cory Ward ended a 14-game scoring drought with his goal in the 1^st period

Rick Pinkston scored goals in back-to-back games for the first time in his career

All three of Teddy Doherty’s goals this season have come against the Royals

Jonah Imoo recorded the first assist of the season by a Monarchs goaltender

Mark Dekanich left the game with an injury at 4:12 of the second period

-Monarchs-

Photo Credit: Rich Tilton