Pirates Fall to Monarchs 5-2 in Game One

April 24, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release

Manchester, N.H. - The Portland Pirates (0-1) dropped Game One of the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs to the Manchester Monarchs (1-0) by a score of 5-2 on Thursday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H. It was the first game of the best-of-five series against the Monarchs.

The game started out at a fast and furious pace with Jordan Weal potting the Monarch's first goal just 2:07 into the first period. Weal's goal came with assists from Sean Backman and Kevin Raine. Henrik Samuelsson evened the score for the Pirates about a minute later with a power play goal at 3:11, assisted by Brendan Shinnimin and Patrick McNeill. Brian O'Neill scored the go-ahead midway through the first at 10:27, assisted by Michael Mersch and Andrew Bodnarchuk.

Weal and O'Neill continued their hot streak, each netting another goal in the second frame. Weal got his second at 11:27, a power play goal, assisted Vincent LoVerde and Zach O'Brien. O'Neill made the score 4-1 for the Monarchs at 17:30, assisted by LoVerde and Nick Shore.

Manchester sealed their win when LoVerde netted one of his own, an empty-net shorthanded goal at 17:56 in the third. The Pirates added one more to make it 5-2 when Jordan Szwarz scored at 19:08, assisted by Laurent Dauphin and Philip Samuelsson.

Mike McKenna (0-1) started the game and played two full periods, saving 10 of 14 shots faced. Louis Domingue (0-0) came in for the third and saved all 8 shots he faced. Jean-Francois Berube (1-0) minded net for the Monarchs, saving 14 of 16 shots faced.

Game Two will take place on Saturday, April 25 in Manchester at 7 p.m. Game Three will be held in Portland at the Cross Insurance Arena on Sunday, April 26, at 5 p.m. If necessary, Game Four will take place in Portland on Thursday, April 30 at 7 p.m. and Game Five will be in Manchester on Saturday, May 2, at 7 p.m. Tickets for the games in Portland are Buy-One-Get-One-Half-Off, so call 207-PIRATES for tickets.

Portland Pirates vs. Manchester Monarchs

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from April 24, 2015

• Late Surge Lifts Hogs to 1-0 Series Lead - Rockford IceHogs
• Stars Fall to Rockford in Game 1, 4-2 - Texas Stars
• Comets Head Home with a Split Series vs Chicago - Utica Comets
• Wolves Square Series with 2-1 Triumph - Chicago Wolves
• Penguins Take Down Crunch in Game 1, 5-1 - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
• Sharks Drop Game 1 to the Bears 4-1 - Worcester Sharks
• Bears Power Past Sharks Late, Grab Series Opener - Hershey Bears
• Crunch Fall to Penguins, 5-1, in Game 1 - Syracuse Crunch
• Griffins Face Marlies in Western Conference Quarterfinals - Grand Rapids Griffins
• Wings Return Pulkkinen to Griffins - Grand Rapids Griffins
• Lauridsen Excited to Represent Denmark at 2015 Hockey World Championship - Lehigh Valley Phantoms
• Dallas Signs Janmark to Entry-Level Deal - Texas Stars
• IceCaps Annual Stick Sale Saturday - St. John's IceCaps
• Penguins Reassign Ruopp to Wheeling - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
• Barons Take Game One, 5-2 - Oklahoma City Barons
• Pirates Fall to Monarchs 5-2 in Game One - Portland Pirates

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Portland Pirates Stories

• 2017 Spring Training Golf Classic
• Pirates Spring Training National Anthem Auditions
• 2017 Marauders Coaching Staff
• Marty's Toy Drive
• Marauders Announce 2017 Schedule