MICFLIKIER SCORES TWICE BUT MONARCHS CLAIM 5-4 WIN

January 21, 2012

HERSHEY, Pa. – Marc-Andre Cliche scored on a breakaway with 2:04 left in regulation time, sending the Manchester Monarchs to a 5-4 victory over the HERSHEY BEARS on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

Keith Aucoin got things started 3:26 into the contest, when he collected a feed from Chris Bourque and took a wrist shot from the left circle that sailed over the glove hand of Monarchs netminder Martin Jones and into the upper-right corner of the net.

Just ten seconds later, off of the center-ice draw, Monarchs defenseman Jake Muzzin passed to his defense partner Andrew Campbell, who in turn dumped the puck to the right corner. Justin Azevedo swarmed in and caught the puck on a bank off of the boards, beating out an icing call. He skated to the crease and deked to the backhand to beat Dany Sabourin’s poke-check attempt, tying the score.

Manchester claimed their first lead of the game just 1:05 into the second period off of another fluke play. Aucoin won a defensive-zone draw cleanly away from Linden Vey, but the puck slid off of the skate of a BEARS defenseman and underneath Sabourin. Vey was credited with the goal.

Jacob Micflikier scored the first of two goals on the night to tie the score at 8:03. His original shot from the slot was blocked, but it came back to the left circle and Micflikier’s second chance beat Jones inside the right post. Boyd Kane gave the BEARS a 3-2 lead just 24 seconds later, collecting a loose puck off of the end boards and tucking a shot into the goal before Jones could recover.

But the Monarchs forged right back at 9:13 to again tie things up. Sabourin made a standing save on a left-point shot from Jordan Hill, but the puck dropped loose to his left where Jordan Nolan slammed the puck into the net.

Cam Paddock put the visitors back on top 4-3 when his backhander from in close beat Sabourin to the stick side at 2:06.

The BEARS earned their second power play of the game just after the midway point of the third period, and connected when Kyle Greentree dug the puck loose out of the left corner, fed the puck to the left hash marks where Micflikier one-timed a shot just beyond the reach of Jones at 14:23.

Cliche then charged through center ice and placed a wrist shot underneath the crossbar for the game-winner. The BEARS got Sabourin to the bench for an extra attacker but could not get the equalizer.

Sabourin drops to 10-5-2 in taking the loss, making 32 saves in the game. Jones picked up the win and improves to 12-11-1, with 30 saves on 34 shots.

The BEARS finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

The BEARS and Monarchs will play again tomorrow, January 22 at 5:00 PM. Individual tickets for this and all regular-season home games are on sale now by calling (717) 508-BEAR, or by visiting ticketmaster.com.

Game Recap: http://theahl.com/stats/official-game-report.php?game_id=1009249

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