MANCHESTER, N.H. — The Manchester Monarchs got their revenge, but the Portland Pirates got something more important: two points.

The Pirates scored three first-period goals en route to a 4-2 win over Manchester before a crowd of 3,304 at Verizon Wireless Arena Tuesday night.

“I thought our role-players tonight were a big part of the game,” said Pirates Coach Ray Edwards, whose team began a four-game trip.

“You look at the scoreboard (Jordan Szwarz, Michael Stone, Matt Watkins, Alexandre Bolduc), those types of guys drove us tonight with their work. Some nights you don’t have everyone going and you need to have certain guys step up and we had that tonight.”

When the teams met on Jan. 15, Pirates captain Dean Arsene injured Monarchs rookie Robbie Czarnik with an illegal check and was suspended four games

Czarnik has not played since, so the Monarchs were seeking revenge.

It happened with 14:18 remaining in the first period when Arsene was pinned against the boards by Richard Clune, who began to throw punches. Clune won the fight and also got an extra two penalty minutes.

Arsene said he expected retribution and respected that Clune didn’t take a cheap shot.

“Someone could have jumped me, but he did it the right way,” Arsene said.

Portland already had a 1-0 lead at the time on a short-handed goal by Tyler Eckford, whose one-timer from the high slot beat Jeff Zatkoff.

The Pirates were short-handed after Marc-Aintoine Pouliot got a game misconduct for excessive arguing 1:46 into the game.

The Pirates made it 2-0 at 12:55 on Brett Hextall’s fifth goal of the year. Watkins’ wraparound attempt sailed through the crease and right to Hextall for a quick shot that eluded Zatkoff’s outstretched right leg.

Hextall has scored three of his five goals in Manchester, where his dad, Ron, is the general manager.

Portland pushed the lead to 3-0 at 19:42 of the first, notching another short-handed goal. A defensive breakup in the Portland end sent the Pirates on a two-on-one.

Stone fed Szwarz on the right side and Szwarz drew Zatkoff over and then sent a quick pass back to Ethan Werek in the slot for the score into the yawning cage.

The two short-handed goals were especially painful for Manchester, which went 0 for 7 on the power play.

“That’s too many,” Edwards said of his team’s penalties. “The short-handed goal at the start obviously helps. I thought we did a good job blocking shots and (goalie Justin Pogge) was good.”

The Monarchs turned up the pressure in the second period, scoring a pair of goals to pull within a goal before the Pirates added one heading into the final period.

Monarchs defenseman Patrick Mullen scored 50 seconds into the second period. After a power play had ended, Manchester kept the puck in Portland’s zone and Mullen sent a shot on net from the high slot that found a way through bodies in front and past Pogge.

Justin Azevedo made it 3-2 at 14:49, snapping a wrist shot high glove-side past Pogge from the left circle off a cross-ice feed from Mullen at the blue line.

But the Pirates struck last in the second when Stone’s slap shot from the high slot slid though traffic and past Zatkoff along the ice at 16:19.

Recently moved to center from wing, Szwarz notched his third assist on the goal, a career high for points in a game.

“Stoney’s goal was huge,” Edwards said. “It was a big shift by our fourth line. They had the puck in their zone, got some O zone time and Stoney scored a big goal. That was a big goal because they had all the momentum and we needed to get it back.”

Portland was able to hold on in the third period, snapping the Monarchs’ three-game winning streak.

 

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