PORTLAND, ME – Two third period goals just 58 seconds apart keyed the Manchester Monarchs comeback as they edged the Portland Pirates, 3-1, before a crowd of 6,323 at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, just their second in 19 games (2-15-2-0) when trailing after two periods of play, the Monarchs extended their unbeaten in regulation streak to a season-best nine games (5-0-2-2). They also improved to 5-1-2-1 in nine games against the Pirates this season.

The Monarchs (30-21-6-5, 71 points) also strengthened their hold on second place in the Atlantic Division. With 18 games remaining on the schedule, they trail the first place Hartford Wolf Pack (34-16-10-2, 80 points) by nine points and lead the third place Providence Bruins (27-20-10-3, 67 points) by four points. The Wolf Pack was scheduled to play at Bridgeport on Saturday night. The Bruins were scheduled to play at Springfield on Saturday evening.

The loss extended the fifth place Pirates (22-22-12-7, 63 points) winless streak to 10 games (0-5-4-1).

The Pirates led 1-0 through two periods, but right wing Pavel Rosa’s team-leading 25th goal tied the game with 15:19 remaining. Rosa jumped on a rebound and hammered it past goaltender Maxime Ouellet (10-24-8) with the Monarchs on just their second power play of the game. Center Steve Kelly and defenseman Tomas Zizka, in his first game back since being reassigned to the Monarchs from the Los Angeles Kings, assisted.

The Monarchs collected the game-winner on the very next shift as center Yanick Lehoux roofed his shot over the blocker of Ouellet moments after left wing Noah Clarke set him up in the slot. Forward Chris Schmidt also assisted on Lehoux’s ninth, scored with 14:21 remaining in the contest.

Defenseman Bryan Muir closed the scoring for the Monarchs with his ninth goal, scored unassisted into an empty net with 16 seconds left on the clock.

Goaltender Adam Hauser (14-13-6) preserved the win with seven third period saves. He finished with 20 saves in the game. Ouellet countered with 28 stops.

The Monarchs and the Pirates, who last Wednesday skated to the first scoreless tie in Monarchs history, also failed to score in the opening period of Saturday’s game.

Left wing Graham Mink broke the scoreless tie with his team-leading 18th goal, scored after he picked the pocket of Monarchs defenseman Troy Milam at the Portland blue line. After the steal, he sent forward Ivan Ciernik into the Monarchs zone on a breakaway. Ciernik next faked a shot, and then slid the puck to the trailing Mink, who rifled it into the net with 6:06 off the clock. The goal was the first in 98 minutes and four seconds of head-to-head action between the teams over the last three games.

Mink’s goal came just seconds after the Monarchs one and only man advantage in the period. The Pirates, ranked last in the 28-team American Hockey League with a 10.3 success rate on the power play, were 0-for-3 in the period and 0-for-3 in the game.

The Monarchs will celebrate their millionth fan when they host the Springfield Falcons at 7:05 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Wednesday, March 10. For more information, visit the Monarchs on-line at www.monarchshockey.com.