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Pirates shutout Monarchs

By Chris Roy  Published: 2nd December 2012 Chad Johnson and Mark Visentin combined to make 32 saves for the Portland Pirates en route to a 4-0 victory over the Manchester Monarchs in front of 3,547 in attendance at the Verizon Wireless Arena Sunday afternoon.

Visentin replaced Johnson (11 saves) at the start of the second period because of a lower-body “tweak” according to the Phoenix Coyotes’ Assistant General Manager Brad Treliving.

After a scoreless first period, Rob Klinkhammer gave Portland a 1-0 lead as he got behind Monarchs’ defenseman Jake Muzzin, picking up a long-ice pass from Brandon Gormley, snapping a shot, stickside, under of the crossbar, beating goaltender Martin Jones at the 10:07 mark of the second period.

Klinkhammer added his second goal of the night, his seventh of the season, with 11:53 remaining to put the Pirates up by two goals, 2-0, when he found the puck in the crease area behind Jones, tapping it with a backhand into the open net.

The Pirates sealed the victory with an empty-net goal from Ethan Werek with 1:31 remaining in the game, improving to 10-9-1-1 on the season.

Pirates’ captain Alexandre Bolduc, who missed Saturday’s game due to an ankle injury, finished the game with two assists in his return.

Rookie Darian Dziurzynski made it 4-0 with his first career AHL goal, throwing the puck on net, beating the final game buzzer for the Pirates’ second empty-net goal of the game.

The Pirates finished the game 1-for-7 on the power play, and have at least one power-play goal in five of the last six games since snapping a 0-for-35 scoreless streak.

Visentin gets credit for the win, stopping all 21 shots he faced.

NOTES: The Pirates are now 2-2-0 in the VIP Cup series against the Monarchs… An upper-body injury kept forward Jordan Szwarz out of the Portland lineup for the third consecutive game… Max Goncharov and Mathieu Brodeur were healthy scratches.