These are good times for the Manchester Monarchs, the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate. The Monarchs play tonight, and they take a three-game win streak into the game. With a 20-11-1-1 record, they sit atop the Atlantic Division. Much like last season, goaltending has been carrying the Monarchs of late, but the storyline is significantly different.
Last season, Jonathan Bernier was the AHL’s top goalie. He “graduated” to the NHL, and it was presumed that Jeff Zatkoff, Bernier’s backup last season, would step into the No. 1 goalie job. He did, for a while, but recently has been supplanted by Martin Jones, a former undrafted-free-agent signing by the Kings who is in his first professional season after a strong junior career. Jones, who turns 21 next month, ranks second in the AHL in goals-against average (1.60) and save percentage (.950) and has a 9-2-1 record. Zatkoff has a 3.10 goals-against average and .897 save percentage. The AHL schedule regularly includes games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and for the past two weekends, Jones has drawn the start in two of the three games.
In terms of scoring, Bud Holloway and Andrei Loktionov each have a team-high 23 points, and Loktionov leads in assists with 18. Justin Azevedo has a team-high 10 goals and Viatcheslav Voynov leads all defensemen in scoring with 22 points.
I really think it would be beneficial for our affiliate to be in the same state, or at least Much closer to LA than it is…. Just makes sense
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KC23 Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:16 pm
@VanKingsFan, I wish the Pirates and the Monarchs would trade cities. Portland would be perfect for the Monarchs, Seatle wouldn’t be bad either.
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King John Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:27 pm
@KC23, Yeah, you would think the team would be out west somewhere. I would like to see a pro team in Seattle.
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Cutty Sarkn3ss Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:29 pm
@KC23, Portland Pirates are in MAINE, not Oregon . . .
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King Taco Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:30 pm
@KC23, It’s Portland, Maine not Portland, Oregon
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VanKingsFan Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:31 pm
@King Taco, Always blows me away how quickly the country ran out of names for their towns
Harty Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:47 pm
@VanKingsFan, why not the Oakland area?
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Geoff Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:55 pm
@VanKingsFan, Obviously it would be, if things were really that simple.
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holly Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 7:20 pm
@VanKingsFan, It’s also beneficial to the AHL’s survival to have the majority of teams within bus distance.
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kinginsaltlake Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 7:23 pm
@holly, Bring the AHL to Salt Lake
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I can’t wait for Loktionov brings some creativity to the Kings offense.
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Bill M. Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:32 pm
@Dan H., In general, I think we have several guys who are growing up in manchester right now, who WILL be the kind of creative, space creating, sniping guys that people keep saying we need. Really, we are probably a year or two away from a good cup run.
By then, Kopi, Doughty, Johnson will all be in their prime, confident and experienced guys who can lead the team. Kozun, Holloway, Loktionov, etc should all be ready by then. These guys will change the face of the kings offense when they arrive, pushing out the old veteran mentors and replacing them with youthful speed and creativity. Once we get to that point…then it’s just a matter of Quick or Bernier getting hot, and blamo. cup run.
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Stop the Puck Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:44 pm
@Bill M.,
i disagree, there are so many parts to this team that are not guaranteed for 1-2-3 years. for instance, how will the 3rd line change with schenn on it as opposed to handzus? are we going to be able to resign williams? will DL make the deal we all know the kings need? in my opinion, the kings window is as open now as it will ever be. getting a top sniper is a MUST that cannot be filled internally with any reliability. the onus is now on DL to get the right player. how many one goal games have we lost due to lack of punch when needed? how many powerplays have we had that could have gotten us back in a game, but we didnt even set it up? trading for the right player can solve this and would set us up nicely for a cud run this year
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Mike L Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:51 pm
@Stop the Puck,
We have a Sniper his name is Kopitar.
We need a playmaker for Kopitar, in my mind we don’t need a sniper we already got one
Stop the Puck Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 5:11 pm
@Stop the Puck,
@ Mike L
he has scored 2 goals this year that would make me think sniper (vs NSH and OTT). on the PP he rarely can pick a corner with a one timer like cammy could. but i agree not necesarily a sniper just another high level forward is needed to add more to that top line.
Bill M. Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 5:22 pm
@Stop the Puck, Agree with you to an extent. We are weak at left wing and we WILL need to make a move there – don’t see fixing that through the draft, since we are good enough that we won’t get really high, immediate impact kind of pick.
Do we really need williams? he’s good and it would be nice to have him, but really really aren’t that bad at RW. I don’t think we will keep williams, but I don’t think it matters. Kozun will play with Kopi eventually, and that is a dangerous combo. The speed and skill they present will back off defenders and create lanes that we just can’t seem to open up right now. He’s small, but playing with Kopi, do you REALLY need size? his speed, on the other hand, is huge. Kopi will have a legitimate passing target that defenders just can’t keep tabs on, no matter how hard they try.
Handzus is nearly expendable already. He seems to be struggling more this year, and with both Lokti and Schenn looking like they could be calder-worthy centers at some point, I think our third line actually looks BETTER after Handzus has been replaced. Not because Handzus sucks, but because his replacement will be significantly better. In fact. Clifford-Schenn-Simmonds looks almost too dangerous to be a third line.
top 9 two years from now:
???-Kopi-Kozun
Holloway-Lokti-Brown
Clifford-Schenn-Simmonds
Fill in the ??? and win a cup…
Bill M. Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 5:26 pm
@Stop the Puck, Looking at those lines I just posted, we need to find a top line left winger whose last name starts with “K”. That way we call them the “triple K” line or something.
Then we truly fulfill the requirement of a superstar top line – the nickname.
PRMan Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 5:56 pm
@Bill M., Honestly, I think we have a better chance right now, especially if Marco Sturm gets anywhere close to his previous Playoff performances.
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Max8 Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 5:15 pm
@Dan H., Yep, and don’t forget Moller…I am still pissed they sent him to Manchester again. Give the kid a chance to develop some chemistry with the Kings. Sheesh!
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holly Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 7:16 pm
@Max8, Looks to be more along the lines of sending him to Manchester to continue develop chemistry with Lokti.
The pair of them might be the best 2/3 of a line since Teddy Purcell and Matt Moulson. That may not say a lot to people who only saw them with the Kings, but they put up some good numbers together with the Monarchs.
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Nice to hear they’re doing well. Sounds like there’s a goaltending “controversy” over there. I guess it never hurts to have plenty of able keepers in the system.
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Holloway has to get a taste this season, even if it is just for a game or two. The guy lead the Reign in scoring, last year led the monarchs in scoring in the reg season and playoffs, and agin leads the team this season. While he is just not strong enough yet, he should get a game to let him know where he needs to get to. This Bud is for us.
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does anyone know if the air the Monarchs game’s? and what channell? i would like to watch some games and get a REAL sense as to our depth and future stars.
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Geoff Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 4:58 pm
@BrokeKingsFan, I lived in NH for 4 years, and I never saw any games televised. They’d likely be on NESN or one of NH’s network affiliates if they ever were televised, but good luck getting those channels here in LA.
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BrokeKingsFan Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 6:11 pm
@Geoff, Thanks! seems like i might be SOL.
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holly Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 6:54 pm
@Geoff, During the lockout they broadcast every single game on WMUR. Now it’s dropped down to just opening night.
Very few markets have any broadcast deals and the NHL Network coverage this season pretty much only involves Toronto or Hamilton.
I know it isn’t the same, but you can listen to broadcasts online. Ken Cail is a terrific radio guy, though I will warn you that he does get somewhat excited. They do do a full pre-show, usually including an interview with a player and Mark Morris and a post show that usually includes two player interviews. The next Monarch’s game is next Monday. The Monarch’s site (www.manchestermonarchs.com) is set up similarly to the Kings, so if you can find the radio broadcast on the Kings site, you can find it on the Monarchs (but if you can’t, it’s in the “current game” box on the left side of your screen, below the score).
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xeropoint Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 5:38 pm
@BrokeKingsFan,
Paging Holly, please pick up the white courtesy phone!
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Glad to see Bud tearing it up. Loved watching him in Ontario 2 years ago. Good times.
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Manchester is just the place to be for a minor league franchise. It is a great hockey town… Come to think of it New England ranks near the top in hockey enthusiasm. VanKingsfan, Don’t fix something that’s not broken.
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PRMan Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 5:58 pm
@moeberg, Taking so long to get our minor league players back and forth is definitely broken. Unfortunately, the AHL only goes to Texas.
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Slightly off topic…
Sturm-Lewis-Poni… best fourth line, ever?
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KingzzFan Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 6:04 pm
@xeropoint, I agree. I sure hope they turn some heads tonight. Would love to see a few points be awarded to the 4th line.
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Monarchs had a win tonight in a shootout against Hart… excuse me, the Connecticut Whale.
I missed out because of a final paper I was working on, but based on the score sheet and what the people who did go told me, it was a wild one.
http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1007795
I think the two fights with DiDiomete pushed his total fights against him to 11, including a few in juniors.
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54FIGHTING Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 11:43 pm
@holly,
Not looking good for Zatkoff. Gets killed for 3 goals in the first. Jones starts the 2nd and gives up one goal on 13 shots. Good to see them come back from 4-0 for the win too.
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holly Reply:
December 22nd, 2010 at 5:11 am
@54FIGHTING, Zatkoff has been a player of extremes this season. Either he’s pretty close to perfect or he lets everything in. No decent performances, just excellent or terrible.
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The Monarchs are never televised…they barely get a decent mention on the local ABC affiliate station.
All the games are available at a cost on the AHL site, and on line for the radio feed at the team site.
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Simarosa Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 8:35 pm
@hockeynutz,
What a joke wmur is, tonight they did manage to send a camera guy to the arena to interview Cliche and Moller after the game. Then back at the studio, mention the New Years Eve game v Providence but never mention the next home game, which is Monday v Springfield!
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holly Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 8:39 pm
@Simarosa, WMUR has always been a joke. They’re a local station that doesn’t care about anything or anyone local.
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Simarosa Reply:
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:20 am
@holly,
I have lived in NH my entire life and am well aware of wmur.
http://manchestermonarchs.com/news.php?nid=3872
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Thank goodness for Martin Jones!!!!!!!!!!!!
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