By PAUL BETIT, Staff Writer Monday, January 15, 2007

Matt Keith tucked a backhander behind Worcester goalie Nolan Shaefer for the only score among 10 players during the shootout, lifting Portland to a 5-4 victory before 3,608 fans at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Keith's heroics came after Portland squandered a two-goal lead during the final eight minutes of regulation.

"That's a game where we get two points and we're not overly happy with it, just because of the way the thing played out," Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. "We have a better level of hockey than we've shown the last two weeks."

The victory came after the Pirates had back-to-back, one-goal losses to AHL Atlantic Division rivals Manchester and Hartford.

"There's some encouraging signs," Dineen said. "We've shown some offense. We've shown the ability to come back. We played well through spurts."

Worcester's Graham Mink, a former Pirate, opened the scoring 11:12 into the first period when he finished off a rush down the left side with a shot just beyond the reach of goalie Mike Wall's glove for his sixth goal of the season.

Mink's goal came after the Pirates failed to score on three power plays during the first 10 minutes.

"We've had our power-play chances and we couldn't generate a lot," Dineen said. "It took us to get a goal behind and have a little chat in between periods to come out and play a solid second period."

The game was tied 2-2 at the end of the second period.

Keith made it 1-1 at 3:48 when he slid in a shot from the middle of the left circle for his third goal since coming to the Pirates in a trade less than three weeks ago.

Brett Skinner scored from the left point at 4:55, putting Portland ahead for the first time in three games.

Worcester's Tomas Plihal scored the tying goal at 13:55 by sending the puck inside the near post on a shot from the bottom of the left circle.

Portland built a 4-2 lead during the first 11 minutes of the third period.

Zenon Konopka poked a shot inside the right post at 8:31 after winning a battle with Shaefer for control of the puck.

Less than two minutes later, rookie defenseman Brian Salcido fired the rebound of his own shot inside the left post for his fourth goal.

But the Pirates couldn't close out the Sharks.

"They just kept on coming," Salcido said. "It was our ninth period of the weekend and their sixth, and they just kept coming. But we never let down."

With 7:29 left, Lukas Kaspar stuck a backhander inside the right post moments after center Josh Prudden won a faceoff in the left circle.

Steve Bernier's close-in shot from the left side trickled in off Wall's pads with 2:36 left to send the game into overtime.

NOTES: The night after his first call up from the Pirates, left wing Curtis Glencross scored his first NHL goal for Anaheim Saturday night.