Monarchs remain white-hot, win sixth straight

MANCHESTER – The front office dubbed the game "Thanksgiveaway," but on the ice it was charity in name only as the Monarchs gave little while grabbing their sixth straight victory, this one a 3-1 verdict over the first-place Portland Pirates last night.

Manchester's Trevor Lewis scored a pair and rookie Bud Holloway had the game winner in the third period before 6,328 at Verizon Wireless Arena.

"You can't rest on your laurels, that's for sure," said coach Mark Morris of his Monarchs winning their sixth game in 10 days. "Just continue to chip away ... we've got a lot of hockey left this weekend so we'll enjoy this one for a few minutes and start thinking about (tonight)."

The surging Monarchs (9-6-0-3) are on their longest win streak over the last 101 games, spanning parts of three seasons. They visit Hartford (N.Y. Rangers) tonight at 7 o'clock.

Portland, bitten by injuries, dropped its fourth straight. It was also the first time the Pirates lost a road game in regulation.

"A loss is a loss and you always try to learn from it and come back the next day," said Portland coach Kevin Dineen. In this case, Portland hosts the Monarchs in a rematch tomorrow at 4 p.m.

"We had to struggle putting two back-to-back and here we are six in a row," said Holloway. "All the guys are feeling great, feeling confident."

To put it away, Holloway scored the game-winning goal with 9:01 to go in the game. His right circle rip was set up by Marty Murray, who had collected the rebound of Holloway's first close-range bid alongside the Portland goal. And 4:52 later, for insurance, Lewis finished Gabe Gauthier's shovel pass off the back wall.

"The two goals in the third really reinforced the things that we have to do to be effective," said Morris. "We played in the third like we did when we were on the road (winning five straight)."

Portland tied it 1-1 with the only goal of the second period. Tyler Bouck, parked among a crowd in front of Monarchs goaltender Jon Quick, tipped Chris Butler's center point on-ice slapshot with 2:37 to go in the period. Bouck's power-play tally was only the second allowed by the Monarchs in the last 25 attempts.

"Tip the cap, the whole team played excellent," said Quick (4-5-1), who made a season-high 41 saves. "Overall, we're doing a great job defensively. Our forwards are clicking and we have lines that are running and putting up some numbers."

Despite being outshot, 17-9, in the opening period, the Monarchs led 1-0 on Lewis' little wrap in front of rookie Slava Voynov's right point drive during the man-advantage only 5:22 into the game.

NOTES: Holloway's goal was his second in as many games and the first gamewinner of his career ... Monarchs are 6-0-0-3 when they score first ... With the win, the Monarchs evened their home record (3-3-0-3) for the first time this season ... It was Lewis' first two-goal game of the season ... The Monarchs moved into a tie with Springfield for third-place in the Atlantic Division. Two weeks ago, the Monarchs were last among the seven teams ... Arriving shortly before game time from Cincinnati (ECHL) to play for Portland was W Kyle Rank, a past St. Lawrence teammate of Monarchs D Drew Bagnall ... Past Hartford Whaler forward (and Boston Bruins irritant) Pat Verbeek in the house scouting for Detroit ...Also in the house was L.A. Kings braintrust Dave Taylor (now a scout for Dallas) and Bill O'Flaherty (scouting for Florida).