Monarchs Score Late to Beat Pirates 3-2

Published on December 27, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


Manchester, NH - The Portland Pirates fell 3-2 to the Manchester Monarchs after a late comeback bid was foiled by Scott Parse's game-winning goal with 3:22 left to play. Jhonas Enroth made 29 saves on 32 shots in the loss.

After a scoreless twenty minutes, it didn't take the Monarchs long to get on the board in the second period. Just 15 seconds into the period, Joe Piskula took a point shot through traffic. Portland goaltender Jhonas Enroth made the initial save, but Brian Boyle collected the rebound and put it home on a backhander to give the Monarchs a 1-0 lead. Ryan Murphy got the second assist on the play. Just a few moments later, Manchester struck once again as this time a big hit from Boyle created the chance. Boyle created a turnover and slid the puck to the left point for Alec Martinez on a rush. After a quick tic-tac-toe passing play, Martinez fired a one timer past Enroth from the left wing as Boyle and Dusty Collins earned the helpers.

Portland hung around until a flurry of Monarchs penalties gave the Pirates a 5-on-3 advantage towards the middle of the second period. Marc-Andre Gragnani held the puck at the right point and set up a Mark Mancari one-timer from the left point. Mancari was able to beat Monarchs netminder Jonathan Bernier for his 12th goal of the season, as Gragnani and Schutz picked up the assists. The Pirates couldn't net another in the second period though, and went into the final frame down 2-1.

Portland killed off what was left of a Dylan Hunter penalty in the third period before turning to the offensive. Mathieu Darche was then able to spring a 2-on-1 break for Marek Zagrapan and Mark Mancari. Zagrapan raced down the left wing and dropped the puck off for Mancari. The Pirates leading scorer returned the feed to Zagrapan on the doorstep and he beat Bernier to tie the game at 2. Darche and Mancari notched the assists.

Portland couldn't complete the comeback effort though, as the Monarchs grabbed the game back with a late goal from Scott Parse, who took a feed from Brian Boyle on a 2-on-1 and put a one-timer past Enroth to give Manchester a 3-2 lead. The game-winning goal was assisted by Boyle and Ryan Murphy.

Enroth suffered the loss and falls to 10-5-2 on the year despite stopping 29 of 32 shots thrown his way. Jonathan Bernier picked up the win by stopping 26 of 28 Portland shots.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 27, 2008


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