Manchester doubles River Rats in season opener

ALBANY -- Rookie Andrei Loktionov scored three goals and set up a fourth to power the Manchester Monarchs past the Albany River Rats, 6-3, tonight at the former Knickerbocker Arena in the AHL season opener for both teams.

Albany rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game at 3 just 1:52 into the third period, but allowed three unanswered goals in a span of 7:18. The Rats are now 7-8-3 all-time in their first game of the season, 2-3 at home.

"We were very flat-footed, whether that was nerves or inexperience," head coach Jeff Daniels said. "They came at us hard and we didn't respond ot it. Once we started skating, we were a different team out there. We battled back to tie the game up and had some mental breakdowns in the (defensive) zone.

"They've got some good young skill players. You give them some room and they'll make plays. That's what happened in the first period, where we kind of sat back on our heels and watched them sakte and move around. You need to take away time and space and we didn't do that."

Rookie Drayson Bowman scored Albany's first goal, a slap shot from the left point through the screen of Stefan Chaput at 16:43 of the first period to make it a 2-1 game.

"I just got on the ice and the puck was rimmed around the boards," Bowman said. "I just picked it up and tried to put it on net, and it worked out. For sure, I wanted it to be in a victory, but it's nice to get the first one out of the way, not let it go too long before you get the first one and hopefully focus on getting some more."

Defenseman and alternate captain Brett Carson made it a 3-2 game with 0.4 seconds left in the second period. A falling rookie Zach Boychuk was able to sweep the loose puck to Carson at the blue line, and he fired a shot high inside the left post.

"We started off slow and got behind, and that's obviously not what we wanted to do," Carson said. "The first game, you're always going to be a little bit rusty. We're disappointed in the way we played, but there waas some flashes of what we can do. Our young guys showed the skill they have. We've got to take the positives out of it. Obviously there wasn't many, but we know we can play good hockey. That's the way we've got to look at it."

Rookie Chris Terry had the other goal for Albany, a power-play tally early in the third period that tied the game.

"It's going to be a learning curve," Daniels said. "As much as people are excited about these young kids, they're kids. As you saw out there tonight, they've got some junior habits still where they think they have a little more time than they do. They've got to do things quicker. It's something we'll harp on all week. It's probably a good thing we only had one game this week. We'll have a lot of time to practice, and we've got a lot of stuff to work on. It was a good wakeup call for these guys so they see this is a good league and it's not going to be easy."

The opening-night crowd was 6,507, a drop from the 7,039 of 2008. Albany plays next at home against Portland on Friday, Oct. 9.

"The fans were great," Daniels said. "Unfortunately, we didn't give them a good performance out there tonight. Hopefully, they'll come back Friday night and we'll be better."

Rats alternate captain Mike Angelidis was lost for the game when he was checked into the boards by Manchester defenseman Patrick Mullen with 9:32 left in the second period.

After the game, Angelidis wore a sling on his left shoulder, the same one he separated at the end of last season and had surgically repaired over the summer. He is scheduled to have an MRI on Monday and is out indefinitely.

"I think his stick caught my left leg and I went awkardly into the boards," Angelidis said. "We'll take all the precautions and see what happens on Monday.

"I felt good in the first period. I got in my first fight and had my legs going pretty god out there. It's just a bad year for me right now. Two shoulder separations and a bus crash. It's tough."


Manchester 3 0 3 -- 6
Albany 1 1 1 -- 3

First period -- 1, Manchester, Segal 1 (Loktionov), 5:18. 2, Manchester, Loktionov 1 (Bagnall, Parse), 10:46. 3, Albany, Bowman 1, 16:43. 4, Manchester, Loktionov 2 (Moller), 17:49. Penalties -- Westgarth, Mch major (fighting), 10:49; Fitzgerald, Alb major (fighting), 10:49; Bagnall, Mch major (fighting), 19:18; Angelidis, Alb major (fighting), 19:18.

Second period -- 5, Albany, Carson 1 (Boychuk), 19:59. Penalties -- Mullen, Mch (hooking), :57; Cliche, Mch (tripping), 7:51; Voynov, Mch (hooking), 11:14; Dwyer, Alb (tripping), 12:18.

Third period -- 6, Albany, Terry 1 (Samson), 1:52 (pp). 7, Manchester, Piskula 1 (Elkins, Westgarth), 6:12. 8, Manchester, Loktionov 3 (Mullen, Parse), 9:58. 9, Manchester, Gauthier 1 (Westgarth, Bagnall), 13:30. Penalties -- Segal, Mch (cross-checking), 1:38; Mullen, Mch (interference), 14:26; Bagnall, Mch (delay of game), 14:35.

Shots on goal -- Manchester 16-4-11 -- 31. Albany 8-14-16 -- 38.

Goalies -- Manchester, Bernier 1-0 (31 shots-28 saves). Albany, Peters 0-1 (38-32).

Power-play opportunities -- Manchester 0 of 1. Albany 1 of 6.

A -- 6,507. T -- 2:22.

Referee -- Chris Brown. Linesmen -- Mike Emanatian, Bob St. Lawrence.