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AHL Manchester Monarchs

Obie Win

February 23, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


MANCHESTER, NH - Center Colin Fraser sparked a three-goal scoring frenzy in the third period as the Manchester Monarchs came from behind to win a 5-4 contest against the Portland Pirates at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Saturday night.

Manchester (35-14-2-6) leads the Atlantic Division with 78 points. Portland (19-23-2-7) is ranked fifth in the Atlantic Division with 47 points.

"Right from our opening breakouts, I knew that we were in for a long night," said Monarchs Head Coach Mark Morris. "It seem like things started to just get more and more lethargic for us. Mental preparation goes a long way toward playing a complete game and building your confidence for the rest of the game. It took us a couple periods but we finally figured it out."

The Monarchs completed their comeback with right wing Zach O'Brien's seventh goal of the season at 17:31 of the final frame. Defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk swiveled a pass over to right wing Scott Sabourin along the blueline. Sabourin fired a slap shot wide and to the left of the net. The puck ricocheted off the boards and popped out on the right doorstep for O'Brien to bank home the rebound to give the Monarchs a 5-4 advantage.

Defenseman Daine Todd put Portland on the scoreboard at 6:58 of the first period. Right wing Brandon Yip dropped a pass back to defenseman Mathieu Brodeur at the top of the left circle. Brodeur crossed it to the edge of the blueline to Todd who wristed a shot on net. The shot deflected off of a Monarchs' defender and beat goaltender Martin Jones for the 1-0 lead.

The Pirates struck again at 8:20 of the first period with a power play goal by left wing Lucas Lessio. Center Brendan Shinnimin gathered the puck at the top left circle in the offensive zone. He started skating down along the boards and backhanded a pass to a waiting Lessio in the slot who slapped it past Jones glove for the 2-0 Pirates lead.

Left wing Nick Deslauriers put the Monarchs on the board at 3:20 of the second period. Center Andrew Crescenzi won the puck battle behind the net in the trapezoid and shoveled it along to boards to Sabourin in the right face-off circle. Sabourin whipped a hard pass right onto the tape of Deslauriers who banked in his 18th goal of the season.

Left wing Brendan McMillan scored a power play goal at 8:05 of the second period to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead. Center Andy Miele won the face-off back to right wing Chris Brown on the left side of the face-off circle. Brown backhanded a pass into the hash marks to McMillan who wristed his ninth goal of the season past Jones' glove.

Seventeen seconds later, Monarchs center Jordan Weal scored his 14th goal of the season to cut the lead back down to one at 8:22 of the second period. Right wing Brian O'Neill's initial shot was saved by Pirates goaltender Louis Domingue. The puck popped up in the air and landed between right wing Sean Backman and a Pirates' defenseman. Backman was unable to contain the puck, but was able to nudge it into the lower slot where Weal sniped it top shelf over Domingue's blocker side.

One minute and 57 seconds later, Portland responded with another power play goal from McMillan. Pirates set up in the offensive zone on the power play with right wing Tobias Rieder handling the puck. Rieder fed it over to Miele in the left face-off circle. The center carried the puck down toward the end red line before finding McMillian inside the right face-off circle for his 10th goal of the season.

The Monarchs crawled back to within one Fraser ripped home his first tally in a Monarchs uniform at 10:16 of the third period. Defenseman Vincent LoVerde sent a pass to left wing Andy Andreoff as he skated down the left wing. Andreoff carried the puck to the top of the left face-off circle before centering a pass to Fraser in the slot. Fraser one-timed the puck top shelf and past Domingue.

Weal scored at 11:11 of the third period to tie the game at 4-4. Todd turned the puck over near the right face-off circle. O'Neill stole the puck at the hash marks then made a blind drop pass to Deslauriers at the top of the crease. His attempt was deflected by Todd and went wide on the netminder's blocker side. From below the red line, O'Neill kicked the puck to Weal at the lower right circle. Weal blasted a one-timer through traffic. The puck hit off of Domingue's lower glove and trickled in.

Jones (16-3-3) won his 16th game of the season, stopping 23-of-27 shots faced. Domingue (7-7-2) took his seventh loss of the season with 32 saves on 37 shots.

Manchester was 0-for-5 on the power play. Portland went 3-for-6 with the man advantage.

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