MANCHESTER, NH – Patrik Bartosak registered his first shutout of the season to lead the Monarchs to a 2-0 win over Worcester on Sunday afternoon at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
It marked Bartosak’s second career shutout and first since he blanked Portland on April 9, 2014. He made 29 saves in both of his career shutouts.
“He was focused,” Head Coach Mike Stothers said of Bartosak. “We don’t get a whole lot of offense when he’s in there, so maybe he’s figured out the only way to win is for him to get himself a shutout. But it’s a team thing too. He’d be the first to say the guys played well in front of him, but when there was a breakdown he was there.”
The win improved the Monarchs (34-14-5-2) to 7-4-0-1 against the Sharks (30-19-4-2) and snapped a four-game losing streak against them.
Brian O’Neill opened the scoring on a five-on-three power play at 3:03 in the first period. It was his team-high 18th goal of the season.
After a scoreless second period, Weal extended the lead to 2-0 at 6:45 in the third period. O’Neill passed to Weal from the high slot where he threw it in from of the net and it deflected off Aaron Dell’s shoulder.
Worcester pulled Dell for the final 2:05, but was unable to score.
The Monarchs have a three-game weekend at home coming up next weekend with games on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m.) against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and a 3 p.m. Sunday game against Hartford.
Notes:
- Today was Manchester’s first shutout win since a 4-0 win against St. John’s on Dec. 31.
- Brian O’Neill (goal, assist) has at least one point in 10 of his last 12 games beginning on Feb. 4, tallying seven goals and seven assists in that stretch.
- Today marked O’Neill’s 15th multi-point game of the season.
- The Monarchs are undefeated in 16 games at home this season when leading after two periods.
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