MANCHESTER, N.H. — The Portland Pirates (2-3) rallied in the second period with three goals, but ultimately came up short, losing 5-3 to the Manchester Monarchs (3- 2) in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Saturday night.
The Pirates, who won games 3 and 4 at home to force Game 5, ended their season and their hopes at making the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Just like the first two games of the series, the Monarchs scored early on in the first period. Michael Mersch scored just 1:42 in, assisted by Sean Backman and Jeff Schultz. Ryan Horvat added to the Monarchs lead at 16:34, assisted by Andrew Crescenzi and Josh Gratton.
The second period opened up with another early goal from the Monarchs. Jordan Weal was able to convert on a power play while the Pirates’ Henrik Samuelsson was serving a five-minute major for charging. Weal’s goal came at 3:34 and was assisted by Mersch and Brian O’Neill.
The visitors luck turned in the second half of the frame when Samuelsson scored at 12:33 on a power-play goal, assisted by Brandon Gormley and Brendan Shinnimin. Tyler Gaudet nabbed a second power play goal at 16:13, assisted by Jordan Szwarz and Gormley. Shinnimin scored the game-tying goal with just 0.5 seconds remaining in the second period. Shinnimin was fresh out of the penalty box after serving a high-sticking minor.
The Pirates were unable to fend off attacks by the Monarchs and a pair of goals in the first two minutes of the third sealed the victory for Manchester. Mersch scored his second of the night at 1:16, assisted by Backman and Nick Shore. Adrian Kempe made it 5-3 just 20 seconds later at 1:36, assisted by Zach O’Brien and Nic Dowd.
Louis Domingue (2-2) manned the net for Portland, blocking 33 of 38 shots from the Monarchs. Jean-Francois Berube (3-2) recorded the win and saved 24 of 27 Pirates shots.
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