Little cushion at the top

By PAUL BETIT, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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	Staff photo by Gordon Chibroski Dieter Kochan keeps his eye on the puck before making the save. Kochan has won three straight for the Pirates.
	Staff photo by Gordon Chibroski Shane O'Brien, 55, and Geoff Peters celebrate Wednesday night after Simon Ferguson gave the Portland Pirates a 1-0 lead against the Lowell Lock Monsters and goalie Craig Kowalski in the second period at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The Pirates went on to win in a shootout.

The puck went low when it was supposed to go high, but Pierre Parenteau was still happy Wednesday night.

Parenteau slid the puck past goalie Craig Kowalski in a sudden-death shootout to lift the Portland Pirates to a 3-2 victory against Lowell before 3,318 fans at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Earlier during the shootout, Kowalski stopped Parenteau to the glove side.

"The second time, I think (Kowalski) thought I was going to my backhand, so that was why I went to the same place," said Parenteau, who ended the game with the Pirates' seventh shot during the shootout. "I didn't get good wood (but) it went in."

The Pirates have gone 5-1-1 in their last seven games to open a four-point lead over second-place Manchester in the Atlantic Division,

"(Lowell is) hard to play against," Parenteau said. "They don't have that good of a record but they are a good hockey team."

It was the fifth consecutive loss for the Lock Monsters, who are 11 points behind Providence in the race for the division's fourth and final playoff spot.

Dieter Kochan made 33 saves to post his third win in three games.

During the shootout he stopped three of the four shots that were on net.

"He definitely had another good night for us," Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. "It has taken him a while to find his step, but he's seemed to have found his groove here, and we're going to ride him for a while."

The first half of the game belonged to the goalies. Both were credited with 15 saves in the first 30 minutes.

During that stretch, Kochan's best moments came eight minutes into the second period when he stopped a three-shot flurry from point-blank range. Moments later, Kowalski stopped a two-on-one break by Joel Perrault and Curtis Glencross.

Simon Ferguson of Portland broke up the goaltending duel 11:39 into the second when he redirected in the rebound of Geoff Peters' close-in shot for his sixth goal of the season.

The Lock Monsters tied it 1:19 into the third when David Gove finished off a rush down the left side with a shot from the middle of the circle for his 13th goal of the season.

At 9:38, the Pirates regained the lead when Joel Perrault put a shot inside the left post for his ninth goal.

With 3:43 left, while Lowell skated with a two-man advantage, Andrew Ladd, who came down earlier this week from the Carolina Hurricanes, stuck a rebound in the right side to force overtime.

Ladd has nine AHL goals this season.

During the third period, Kochan stopped breakaways by Keith Aucoin and Frantisek Skladany to make sure the game went to overtime.

NOTES: Right wing Dustin Penner, sent back to Portland from Anaheim earlier this week, skated on a line with Ryan Shannon and Igor Pohanka. . . . The Lock Monsters were without all-star goaltender Vitaly Kolesnik, who is representing Kazakhstan at the Winter Olympics. . . . Olaf Kolzig, a former Pirate, is tending goal for Germany during the Olympics. . . . In all, 114 former or current AHL players are playing in the Olympics.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:

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