The Manchester Monarchs, the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, beat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2-0 today in the Monarchs’ preseason opener at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.
After two scoreless periods, Jordan Nolan scored 28 seconds into the third period and Andrei Loktionov scored at the 4:28 mark. Both goals came at even strength. Loktionov assisted on Nolan’s goal, while David Kolomatis and Brandon Kozun assisted on Loktionov’s goal. Martin Jones started in goal and played approximately half of the game before he gave way to J.F. Berube, who completed the combined shutout. Jones made nine saves while Berube made eight saves.
The Sound Tigers, incidentally, are now coached by former Monarchs assistant coach Scott Pellerin. There were three fights in the game — Nolan, Kolomatis and Andre Andreoff dropped the gloves for the Monarchs — and plenty of whistles, especially early, as there were seven total first-period penalties. The Monarchs went 0-for-7 on the power play and 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
After the game, per the Monarchs’ press release, coach Mark Morris said, “We skated extremely well. Our energy was good; we were physical and I thought we created the type of compete level that we’re looking for with the adjustments we made to our systems.”
The Monarchs play preseason road games against Portland on Sunday and Monday in advance of their Oct. 12 season opener at Providence.
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