Manchester suffers power (play) shortage in 4-1 loss to Nashua North/Souhegan

MANCHESTER, NH — Jacob Landry scored a hat trick, including a pair of short-handed goals, leading Nashua North/Souhegan past Manchester Central-West-Memorial, Wednesday afternoon at JFK Arena.

It was a disappointing performance for Manchester (4-3-0) which was coming off an encouraging 1-0 win over Pinkerton Academy, earlier in the week. Rather than building on that win, the Kings offered up an uneven performance, featuring squandered scoring chances and poorly timed turnovers.

“I just told them in the locker room that I felt the same way I felt after we played Salem down in Salem (6-0 loss),” said Manchester Head Coach Jeremy Baker. “We came out sloppy, no energy, they were flat. All of sudden, we’re down 2-0 and trying to claw our way back.”

Manchester has scored just one goal in each of its last three games (1-2-0). The biggest reason for the scoring drought has been a power play that has been lacking any type of scoring punch. Wednesday, against Nashua North-Souhegan (3-3-0), things got worse. Not only were the Kings 0-for-5 on the power play, they also gave up a pair of short-handed goals, including one, while enjoying a 5-on-3 advantage.

A key moment in the game came early in the third period. Trailing 2-0 after two, Manchester sliced the lead NSS lead in half on a goal from Andrue McLaughlin. Scooping the puck up in the neutral zone, MaLaughlin made a strong rush down the right side and snapped off a wrist shot from the circle, beating NNS goalie Zach Veilleux (24 saves).

With momentum on their side, the Kings pressed the attack. They appeared to have tied game with 9:49 remaining, when Veilleux couldn’t control the rebound of a shot from Ryan Marden and Frank Tessier was there to poke home the rebound.

However, the goal was immediately waved off by one of the referees, who had lost sight of the puck and blew his whistle to stop the play, prematurely.

That bit of bad luck seemed to take the wind of Manchester’s sails. The Kings lost their focus and NSS made them pay for it. With just under seven minutes remaining and Manchester on the power play, Landry hustled to grab a loose puck in the neutral zone and streaked down the left side. Using his body to shield the puck from a Manchester defenseman, Landry sliced in front of the net and beat Velez for the shorthanded goal and a 3-1 lead.

Two minutes, later, Nashua South-Souhegan picked up back-to-back penalties, giving Manchester a golden opportunity with a 5-on-3 power play. Instead, Landry struck again, intercepting a lazy cross-ice pass at the blue line and racing the length of the ice to beat Velez, cap his hat trick and push the lead to 4-1.

“We always talk about two things, number one is to make sure your pass is tape-to-tape. I don’t want to see backhanded passes on a power play,” said Baker. “And you saw it tonight, two blind passes that got picked off (for goals).”

Manchester got off to a strong start, spending much of the first period in the attack zone. But as has been the case for the past few games, the Kings had trouble generating quality scoring chances. Their offense was hampered, in part, by three penalties in the first period (eight in the game).

Forward Joey Velez had Manchester’s best scoring chance, in the final minute of the period. Snagging a loose puck at mid-ice, Velez outskated the NSS defense down the right side and snapped off a shot that appeared headed for the upper corner of the net. But Veilleux was able to make a blocker save.

Velez has played well in recent games, anchoring the penalty kill unit and providing aggressive forechecking.

NSS snapped the scoreless tie at 1:02 of the second period on an unassisted goal by Landry. It stayed that way until just over a minute remained in the period when NSS Captain Chase McBride scored off a feed from Landry, making it 2-0.

Manchester returns to action Saturday at 6:20 p.m., on the road at Keene High (3-6-0).