(manchestermonarchs.com) — Maxime Sauve scored at 14:51 of overtime to give the Norfolk Admirals a 1-0 victory over the Manchester Monarchs in Game 3 of the 2014 Calder Cup Eastern Conference quarterfinals at the Norfolk Scope Arena on Wednesday night.
Norfolk leads Manchester, 2-1, in the best-of-five series.
“Tonight’s game was hard fought,” said Monarchs head coach Mark Morris. “Both goalies were stellar. I’m proud of the effort we gave. We deserved a better fate. Territorially, we held the advantage. In the end, we were a step out of position defensively. We got caught puck watching for a split second and they made a strong play out of the corner for the overtime winner. We need to fight back to tie the series and hopefully we are able to find a way to beat (John) Gibson.”
Following a scoreless 60 minutes, the Monarchs and Admirals battled in overtime. Matt Bailey battled with Monarchs defenders in the left-wing corner and freed the puck to Max Friberg, who sent a pass to Sauve in the left face-off circle. Sauve carried the puck toward the slot and flipped a backhand shot into the top corner of the net past Monarchs goaltender Jean-Francois Berube for the lone goal of the game.
Berube (1-2) stopped 30 of 31 shots, while John Gibson (2-1) earned his first shutout of the playoffs, stopping all 35 shots he faced in the game.
Game 4 is Friday night in Norfolk.
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “A” (best-of-5)
1-Manchester Monarchs vs. 8-Norfolk Admirals
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – MANCHESTER 2, Norfolk 0
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Norfolk 3, MANCHESTER 2
Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 30 – NORFOLK 1, Manchester 0 (OT)
Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Manchester at Norfolk, 7:30
*Game 5 – Sat., May 3 – Manchester at Norfolk, 7:15
*if necessary… All times Eastern
