Saturday, November 21, 2009

Devils Muscle Past Monarchs, 5-3
Win lifts Lowell into first place tie with Manchester

LOWELL, Mass. – The Lowell Devils power play proved to be the deciding factor as they converted three times versus the Manchester Monarchs in a 5-3 win on Saturday afternoon at the Tsongas Arena.  The win was Lowell’s fifth straight at home and also lifted the Devils into a first-place tie with the Monarchs. 

Holding on to a 2-1 lead midway through the second, the Devils quickly found themselves behind after back-to-back power plays for the Monarchs.   Oscar Moller made Lowell pay as he twice banged home rebounds past Jeff Frazee over a span of three minutes to give Manchester its first lead of the game.

In danger of heading into the locker room trailing against a team that was 10-0-0-0 when leading after two, the Devils received a much needed marker from the special teams unit.  After Jeff Zatkoff had trouble controlling Matt Taormina’s long wrist shot, Vladimir Zharkov swept in to bounce in the power play goal with 7.7 seconds left in the period.

Lowell picked up the third period where they left off with a 5-on-4 goal from Ben Walter at 1:04 that would give his team the lead for good.  The Devils would limit the Monarchs to just three shots in the final frame, while Nathan Perkovich provided the insurance marker with 3:52 left in regulation. 

Jeff Frazee needed only 17 saves to pick up his fourth win of the season.  Perkovich finished the game with three points (1g-2a) on the afternoon.

The two teams scored early and often in the first period as they combined for three tallies in 1:56.   Andrei Loktionov started it off at 4:12 with a shot that slipped under the stick of Frazee.  Lowell responded less than a minute later with Stephen Gionta’s put back of Alexander Vasyunov’s rebound.  Lowell would then take its first lead of the contest on a power play goal by Michael Swift.  

The Lowell Devils finish their three-game homestand on Wednesday, November 25 at 7:00PM against the Hartford Wolf Pack.  Tune into the broadcast at WWZN-1150AM or go online to listen or watch live at AHLlive.com.  For more information, contact the Devils at (978) 458-PUCK (7825) or visit lowelldevilshockey.com.