PORTLAND — The first game of the 18th season of Portland Pirates hockey was a simple case of one-upsmanship.

The Pirates would score a goal, and moments later so would their rival, the Manchester Monarchs.

In the end, it was the Pirates who got the final hand, when center Luke Adam took a pass from right winger Marc Mancari and deked Manchester goalie Jeff Zatkoff to take a 5-4 lead, eventually leading to a 6-5 win.

Adam scored two goals and added two assists, while left winger Derek Whitmore also added two goals. Mancari finished with four points, a goal and three assists.

“Both of those passes by Marc Mancari were unbelievable passes,” Adam said. “For him to find those seams, he made the play happen.”

It was a strange turn of events for the Pirates, who went 0-7 on power plays through the evening, and even gave up a short-handed goal, a fact not lost on the mind of head coach Kevin Dineen.

“Our power play wasn’t good tonight,” Dineen said. “But there were a few areas. Our transition game is an area that we need to continue to work on. I thought it was a lot better in the third period, but we struggled at that in the first couple of periods. I think we need to have some read and react type things, and learn hockey at a very high pace. For a lot of guys, [the AHL] is high paced.”

Whitmore kicked off the 2010 season with a goal five minutes into the first period, punching in a goal on a rebound off Zatkoff to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. The Monarchs answered back minutes later, when Richard Clune snuck a shot past Portland goalie Jhonas Enroth to tie the game 1-1.

The Pirates regained the lead two minutes later, when Matt Ellis scored on a wraparound backhand in front of Zatkoff for the 2-1 lead. But only three minutes later, the Monarchs tied it again, on a Dwight King goal, to tie the game at 2-2.

The first period also showcased the first fight of the season, when Portland center Travis Turnball engaged in fisticuffs with Clune. Both fell to the ice quickly, and were sent to the locker room, as there was less than five minutes remaining in the period.

The Pirates once again started the scoring off in the second period, when Whitmore scored on a wrist shot that went over the right arm of Zatkoff to bring the score to 3-2. However, Manchester scored a mere minute later, when Monarchs left winger David Meckler also shot a wrister, under the left arm of Enroth to once again tie the game at 3-3. The Monarchs took their first lead of the game midway through the period, when center Corey Elkins scored a short-handed goal, on a top-shelf wrist shot to Enroth’s stick side, making the score 4-3 in favor of the Monarchs.

Halfway through the third period, Mancari fed a pass from the right point to Adam to tie the game at 4-4. Four minutes later, Adam added his fourth point on the night, and second goal, to give the Pirates the lead, and they would never look back.

Mancari added an empty net goal with thirty second remaining, and Meckler punched in a goal with a tenth of a second remaining to finish the scoring at 6-5.

Alex Biega and Colin Stuart each had two assits for the Pirates. Enroth finished the contest with 23 saves.

“It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but [the game] was entertaining for the fans,” Dineen said. “Those ones are hard ones on coaches on both sides, but it gives us a basis for a lot of good things to work on.”

Notes: Portland center Felix Schutz was a scratch from Saturday night’s contest, and is being sent home to Germany. No reason was given by Dineen. The Erding, Germany was a fourth round draft pick of Buffalo in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, and scored 27 points (13 goals, 14 assists) in 67 games for the Pirates last season. He is considered one of the Sabres top forward prospects”¦

With four points in the game, Mancari now has 301 points in his AHL career. He needs one more assist to move into 10th place on the Pirates All-Time assist leaders”¦

Former Portland Pirate Tyler Ennis had two assists for Buffalo in its opening night win against Ottawa on Friday night.

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318.