Early 3-0 hole proves to be too deep
BY: Michael Keeley, Maine Mariners
PORTLAND, ME – March 24, 2019 – The Mariners fell behind by a large margin early and couldn’t recover, falling 6-2 on home ice Sunday afternoon to the Manchester Monarchs. The loss snapped a seven-game home point streak for Maine and dropped them from 3rd to 4th place in the North Division.
Manchester ambushed the Mariners in the opening frame, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. Tony Cameranesi and Pavel Jenys scored 41 seconds apart at 8:27 and 9:08. Cameranesi ripped home a power-play wrist shot from the right wing circle to open the scoring and Jenys beat Mariners’ netminder Chris Nell with a stick-side shot off the rush. At 14:05, defenseman Stepan Falkovsky extended the lead to three, following his own shot after two pad saves by Nell. Late in the period with 1:20 to go, Brycen Martin beat Monarchs netminder Charles Williams with a shot from the point, helped by a Wade Murphy screen. Team assist leaders Taylor Cammarata and Michael McNicholas set it up on the power play. First-period shots totaled 16-9 for Manchester, which led 3-1 through 20 minutes.
The Mariners let two power-play chances slip away in the first half of the second period and shortly after the second one ended, Drake Rymsha extended the Monarchs lead to 4-1, putting a rebound between Nell’s pads. The Mariners pelted Williams with sixteen shots in the frame but were stuck on one goal.
The Mariners were given another power play chance early in the third and again fell victim to a Monarchs goal soon after it ended. Jack Nevins, fresh out of the penalty box, slid his own rebound around Nell’s pad to make it 5-1 at 3:36. Jenys added his second goal of the game at 10:43 to put the goal well out of reach. Dillan Fox scored on a nice set up from rookie Nick Master, who was playing in his first professional game, at 11:13 to bring the Mariners back to within four. Williams was exceptional in the third, making 15 saves, and 39 in total to earn the win.
Nell stopped 27/33 in the loss. Manchester leapfrogs the Mariners into third place with the win and is just two points behind Adirondack for second place. The Mariners remain in a playoff spot, but now by just one point over Brampton. They hold a game in hand on Manchester.
Next weekend features three games in three days – at Reading on Friday, at Adirondack on Saturday, and home against the Thunder Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM. A screening of D2: The Mighty Ducks will immediately follow the game on the video board, free for all fans who purchase tickets to the game. Tickets can be purchased at MarinersOfMaine.com or by calling the Trusted Choice Box Office at 207-775-3458.
