PORTLAND, ME – Center Michael Cammalleri had one goal and two assists for the Manchester Monarchs, who increased their lead over the Hartford Wolf Pack in the American Hockey League’s Atlantic Division with a 4-1 victory over the Portland Pirates before 5,073 fans at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Friday night.

With their 48th win of the season, the first place Monarchs (48-19-4-4, 104 points) opened a four-point lead over the Wolf Pack (47-21-3-3, 100 points) in the race for the division title. Hartford did not play on Friday night.

The Monarchs, who finished their season series with the Pirates with a record of 9-0-0-1, also moved one step closer to locking up home ice advantage in at least the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs. The Monarchs need just one more win in their last five regular season games to guarantee that advantage.

Cammalleri, who remains in contention for the league’s scoring title, upped his season total to 105 points (44-61=105) in the game. Binghamton Senators center Jason Spezza leads the AHL with 108 points (29-79=108) this season.

Right wing Brad Smyth extended his goal-scoring streak to five games with his 22nd of the season, scored on a rebound 13:13 into the opening period to give the Monarchs a 1-0 lead. Left wing Dustin Brown and Cammalleri extended scoring streaks with assists on the play. Brown has an assist in six straight games. Cammalleri has points in eight straight contests.

The Pirates tied the game 9:37 into the middle period with center Jason Ulmer sliding a backhanded rebound past Monarchs goalie Adam Hauser (33 shots, 32 saves) for his fifth goal of the season. Defenseman Jeff Paul and right wing Graham Mink shared assists on only the third goal in four games scored by the Pirates against Hauser this season.

The Monarchs took back the lead with a short-handed goal, scored by right wing Tom Kostopoulos 13:03 into the period. Cammalleri had the only assist on Kostopoulos’ 23rd goal of the season and second in as many games against the Pirates.

The Monarchs opened a 3-1 lead just 1:28 later with Cammalleri’s league-leading 44th goal of the season. Kostopoulos registered the only assist as Cammalleri’s shot from the left circle squeezed through the pads of goalie Kirk Daubenspeck (27 shots, 23 saves) and slowly slid into the Portland net.

The Monarchs had the only third period goal, scored by rookie center Jeff Miles at 2:27. Defenseman Troy Milam and left wing Ryan Kinasewich had assists on his fifth goal of the season. The Pirates pulled Daubenspeck after the goal and replaced him with Maxime Daigneault (8 shots, 8 saves).

Hauser (19-10-0) recorded his 19th win of the season with 32 saves. Daubenspeck saw his record drop to 13-11-1 with the loss. The Pirates, out of playoff contention, are winless in their last eight games. With a record of 31-33-6-5 and 73 points, they are sixth in the division.

The Monarchs are next scheduled to meet the Springfield Falcons at the Springfield Civic Center on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. The Monarchs next home game is scheduled for Friday, April 15 against the Lowell Lock Monsters at 7:35 p.m.