Louis Dominque was peppered early and often in the Portland Pirates net, but he made 34 saves in the 4-1 victory over the Manchester Monarchs Thursday night at the Verizon Wireless Center.
Lucas Lessio, who had been out the last 15 days with an injury, picked up the offense, which only fired 19 shots on Monarchs goaltender Jean-Francois Berube. The 20-year-old rookie had two power play goals and added an assist.
Lessio last played for the Pirates on Dec. 11 where he had a two point night – a goal and an assist – against the Providence Bruins.
The Pirates were slow out of the game once again. Hunter Bishop potted his second goal of the season 3:31 into the game for Manchester. Assists went to A.J. Gale and Maxim Kitsyn.
Portland tied the contest on its second power play of the night with 2:38 remaining in the opening period. Lessio netted his sixth goal of the year. Randy Jones picked up the lone assist on the goal.
The Monarchs dominated the shots in the first period, out shooting the Pirates 14-5. The trend continued in the second period with Manchester having a 9-6 advantage in shots.
Lessio broke the deadlock with a power play marker with 7:18 remaining in the game. Jones and Domique picked the helpers.
They were 2-for-4 with the man advantage while the Monarchs were scoreless on their lone power play of the night.
Just a little over two minutes later, Lessio found Brendan Shinnimin, who scored his fifth goal of the season. It came just four seconds after the team’s fourth and final power play of the night came to an end.
Manchester continued to press. The Monarchs thought they got within one, but the goal was reviewed and waived off.
Andy Miele wrapped the game up with an empty netter with 1:33 left to play. Daine Todd picked up the assist.
Portland heads to Albany on Saturday to face Albany at 5 p.m. The Pirates return to Lewiston on Tuesday for their annual New Year’s eve game at 5:30 p.m against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
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