For the second straight night, the Manchester Monarchs fell to the St. John’s IceCaps in Newfoundland.

John Albert’s goal in the final minute of the third period gave the IceCaps a 3-2 win over Manchester Saturday and a three-point cushion in the race for first place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. St. John’s has 47 points and has played four fewer games than the Monarchs.

On Friday, St. John’s outskated Manchester, 4-2.

Manchester took a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into Saturday’s game when Rob Mignardi scored from assists off the sticks of Marc-Andre Cliche and Jordan Nolan.

The lead was short-lived, however, as St. John’s knotted the game at 1-1 in the middle period and went ahead 2-1 in the third. Spencer Machacek netted the equalizer one minute into the second, and Jason Gregoire put the IceCaps on top five minutes into the third.

Dwight King scored his seventh goal of the season at 17:29 of the third to tie the game at 2-2. Brandon Kozun and Nolan assisted.

Monarch’s goaltender Martin Jones made 33 saves in the game, but was unable to foil Albert as time dwindled. His counterpart, David Aebischer faced just 16 shots and turned aside 14 of them.

St. John’s outshot Manchester 36-16.

Manchester is 21-15-0-2 after 38 games.

The Monarchs return host Bridgeport Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Arena at 7 p.m.