The Manchester Monarchs brought the Pirates back to reality Tuesday night, skating to a 4-0 victory to snap Portland’s five-game win streak before an announced crowd of 1,519 at the Cross Insurance Arena.

“Humble pie is what that was,” Portland Coach Ray Edwards said. “We got a little big for our britches, I think, so that was a good little reality check.

“We’ve had a good run and you’re not going to win them all, but I think our guys are really disappointed. They know they weren’t very good tonight.”

The Pirates got away from the style that enabled them to reel off five straight wins after starting the season with a 2-5 record.

“We just got away from our game,” team captain Alexandre Bolduc said. “They outplayed us. They outworked us. It was as simple as that.”

It was the Monarchs’ second win of the season over the Pirates. On Oct. 24, they skated to a 5-2 victory at Manchester after Portland beat them twice in the preseason.

Advertisement

“Manchester is a good team,” Edwards said. “They play quick and when they got the lead they just kept going. They didn’t stop working.”

Sean Backman opened the scoring less than six minutes into the game by putting a low shot between goalie Louis Domingue’s pads while moving through the right circle on a three-man breakout. It was his third goal of the season.

The Pirates went on four power plays in the first period but were unable to sustain pressure.

“We outchanced them 6-1 in the first period and when you don’t get an early goal on the power play, sometimes you get a little frustrated,” Edwards said.

Each team took seven shots on goal in the first period. All but one of the Pirates’ shots came on power plays.

The Monarchs took a 2-0 lead less than four minutes into the second period when Justin Auger bounced the puck over the blade of Domingue’s stick for his second goal. The goal came after Domingue stopped close-in shots by Nick Ebert and Nick Shore.

Advertisement

“(Manchester) just kept skating,” Edwards said. “They were the faster team tonight. Give them a lot of credit. They worked. They won more races. They won more pucks. They won more battles.

“All the stuff we’ve been doing really good we got away from, and we can’t be successful if we do that.”

The Monarchs completed the scoring in the first three minutes of the third period.

Defenseman Colin Miller made it 3-0 when he finished off a rush with a shot from the left faceoff dot for his fourth goal less than two minutes into the third period.

A little more than a minute later, Jordan Weal turned the game into a rout when he converted a feed from David Van der Gulik into his third goal during a power play.

“We just weren’t ready to play tonight,” said Edwards. “We weren’t good enough and we got our butts beat.”

NOTES: The two teams will meet 12 times this season. … In 2013-14, the Monarchs, the Atlantic Division champions, went 9-3 in the season series.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.