PORTLAND, ME - A goal from defenseman Tim Gleason 4:52 into overtime gave the Manchester Monarchs a 2-1 win over the Portland Pirates before 5,856 fans at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Saturday night.

Gleason's goal, his ninth of the season, gave the Monarchs a weekend sweep in head-to-head action with the Pirates. The Monarchs, now 7-0-0-1 in eight games against Portland this season, also topped the Pirates, 3-0, at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Friday night.

Right wing Tom Kostopoulos and left wing Dustin Brown shared assists on the Gleason tally, wired past Pirates goaltender Kirk Daubenspeck (43 shots, 41 saves) from the top of the left circle.

With the win, their third straight, the Monarchs (45-17-4-3, 97 points) moved five points in front of the second place Hartford Wolf Pack (43-21-3-3, 92 points) in the race for the American Hockey League's Atlantic Division title. The Wolf Pack lost in overtime to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday night.

The Monarchs, who have just one regulation loss in their last 10 games (8-1-1-0), also moved to within one point of clinching their fourth consecutive Calder Cup playoff berth. A win on Wednesday night in Lowell against the Lock Monsters and Manchester is guaranteed a spot in the postseason.

The Pirates chances for postseason play slipped even further away. With a record of 31-29-4-5 and 71 points, they trail the Providence Bruins by seven points in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division. The Pirates entered Saturday night's game against the Monarchs with a record-tying eight straight wins on home ice.

Center Brian Sutherby scored the game's first goal 4:22 into the middle period to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Right wing Owen Fussey and left wing Boyd Gordon assisted on his 10th goal of the season.

The Monarchs tied the game later in the same period with the league-leading 41st goal of the season for center Michael Cammalleri. Defenseman Denis Grebeshkov and Kostopoulos shared assists on the power play goal, scored when Cammalleri got a piece of Grebeshkov's blue line slap shot at 19:08. Cammalleri's shot was the 17th attempted by the Monarchs against Daubenspeck in the period.

Cammalleri, who shares the league lead with 17 power play goals, moved into second place on the Monarchs all-time goals scored list with the tally. Only former Monarchs left wing Pavel Rosa (67 goals in 138 games, 2002-04) has more career goals than Cammalleri's 66 in a Monarchs uniform.

Grebeshkov also established a Monarchs single season record for assists by a defenseman on the play. The second-year pro leads all AHL blueliners with 38 assists this season.

Monarchs goaltender Adam Hauser (17-10-0) stopped 40 of 41 shots in the game for his 17th win. He nailed down the win with 10 saves in the third period and another one save in overtime.

The Monarchs are scheduled to meet the Lock Monsters on Wednesday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m. at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell before hosting the Bruins on Friday, April 1 at 7:35 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Arena.