Monarchs Nailed Down in Wheeling, 2-1

WHEELING, WV – A pair of first period goals doomed the Manchester Monarchs for the second night in a row, as they fell to the Wheeling Nailers, 2-1, Saturday night at the WesBanco Arena.

The Nailers (35-26-4-4) evened up the season series with the Monarchs (38-23-4-5) at one game apiece, and held serve in the congested bottom four of the Eastern Conference playoff structure.

Wheeling took the early lead when Riley Brace scored his 26^th goal of the season at 2:47 of the first period.  Brace found the rebound from a Mathew Maione shot that ricocheted off the high glass on his stick to the right of the goal, and made no mistake, beating a down-and-out Monarchs goaltender, Colin Stevens, for the early Nailers lead.

Wheeling doubled their advantage when Justin McCarron scored his 12^th goal of the season at 13:06 in the first period.  McCarron took a pass from Chris Wydo at the blue line, drifted to the mid-slot and wristed home a goal over the glove shoulder of Stevens, making the game, 2-0, Wheeling.The Monarchs cut into the Nailers lead at 9:31 of the second period when Matt Fornataro scored his 9^th goal of the season. Joey Diamond began the tic-tac-toe passing play that Fornataro finished, sending a wrist shot over the glove of Wheeling goaltender, Franky Palazzese, bringing the Monarchs back, 2-1.

The Monarchs fought hard in the third period, but couldn’t solve Palazzese again, falling by a 2-1 final score.

The Monarchs return to the Jungle on April 8 (7 p.m.), when they host the Adirondack Thunder in the last regular season home game of the season on Fan Appreciation Night.

Notes

• Maxim Kitsyn recorded his 130^th career point and 60^th career assist on Fornataro’s goal
• Yann Sauvé made his return to the Monarchs lineup after being loaned to Manchester by the Stockton Heat (AHL)
• Joey Diamond dropped the gloves for the first time since March 8