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It’s a “Swedish” time for the Pirates

By Chris Roy  Published: 25th November 2012 For the second time in three games, a Swedish defenseman came through for the Portland Pirates in overtime.

This time, it was David Rundblad, who tallied the game-winning goal in overtime, giving the Pirates a 3-2 win over the Manchester Monarchs before 3,814 at the Verizon Wireless on Sunday afternoon.

Friday night, the Pirates overcame 4-1 deficit as Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored 19 seconds into overtime for a 6-5 victory.

Tonight, Rundblad needed a little more than his counterpart, scoring for the Pirates 1:27 into overtime, taking a feed from forward Andy Miele, splitting a pair of Monarchs’ defensemen, snapping a shot over the glove of goaltender Martin Jones.

Manchester opened the scoring at the 9:54 mark of the first period on a goal by Jake Muzzin, who beat Pirates’ netminder Chad Johnson with a shot from the right point.

Portland countered to even the game, 1-1, while on the power play with 3:59 remaining in the first period.

Jordan Martinook slid the puck over defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson where he fired a wrister past from the left circle by Jones for his fifth goal of the season.

It was Martinook’s first professional point with the assist on the play.

After a scoreless second period, the Monarchs broke the tie on a goal by rookie Tyler Toffoli

It was his fifth goal against the Pirates this season. He had a hat trick last Tuesday at the Civic Center in a 5-1 victory for the Monarchs.

Pirates’ rookie Chris Brown tied the game, 2-2, only 3:09 later on a turnover by the Monarchs as he ripped a quick shot that beat Jones between the legs with 4:29 to play in the third period.

Jones (7-7-1) finished the game with 47 saves, while Johnson (6-5-0) rebounded from a poor outing against Springfield on Friday to make 37 saves on 39 shots.

NOTES: Chris Conner was out of the lineup due to an injury after returning Saturday night from a four-game absence due to an upper-body injury… It was Mathieu Brodeur and Mike Stone turn to sit as part of the Pirates’ continuing rotation of defensemen…. Andy Miele finished the weekend with five assists.