KINGS FOR A DAY

Monarchs Leave Philly With 6-2 Win

PHILADELPHIA – Teddy Purcell had a goal and three assists to lead the Manchester Monarchs past the Philadelphia Phantoms 6-2 on Sunday The Monarchs, who own and operate the league’s best power play, capitalized four times on the nine man-advantage opportunities they had in the first and second periods to win the first meeting between the teams since February of 2006.

The first two goals came 32 seconds apart early in the first period. Troy Milam started the scoring when he fired home the rebound of a shot by Brian Boyle at 3:06, followed by Matt Ryan’s conversion of a two-on-one with Teddy Purcell at 3:38.

Philadelphia jumped on the board at 9:41 of the frame. Triston Grant took a pass down low, fought off two defenders at the top of the crease and pulled it around goaltender Daniel Taylor before firing it home.

The teams traded two more goals, with Manchester re-upping its two-goal lead at 12:32. Boucher made a point-blank save on Lauri Tukonen, but the rebound came out to the slot. With all four Phantoms trying to help clear the crease, Matt Moulson fired the puck through the pack and into the relatively empty upper-half of the net.

The Phantoms struck back on the power play at 14:39 when Alexandre Picard shipped a shot from the center point that Taylor mishandled and let fall over the line, making the game a 3-2 contest.

But Manchester began to pull away with a power play goal that came from Purcell with just 6.2 seconds remaining, which made it 4-2 at the intermission. Manchester pushed across two more goals in the second period before the teams played a scoreless third.

Boucher played 20:21, taking the loss by allowing five goals before yielding to Scott Munroe, who allowed one goal in 39:27. Taylor stopped 28 of 30 in taking the win.

The Phantoms hit the halfway point of the AHL season with a record of 27-12-1-0 for 55 points. They head to Syracuse for a Wednesday night matchup before coming back to the Wachovia Spectrum to host Bridgeport at 7:05 on Friday night. Tickets are available at the Wachovia Complex box office, online at ComcastTIX.com or phantomshockey.com, or by phone at 1-800-298-4200.

Sunday, January 13, 2008