Sunday, January 21, 2007
TODAY'S GAME
WHO: Portland Pirates at Providence Bruins
WHEN: 4:05 p.m.
WHERE: Dunkin' Donuts Center
Defensive woes continued to plague the Portland Pirates on Saturday night.
The Providence Bruins scored on consecutive odd-man rushes during a span of less than two minutes of the second period to roll to a 6-4 victory before a crowd of 6,821 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
The victory allowed the Bruins to move into third place in the Atlantic Division, one spot ahead of the Pirates.
It was the third consecutive loss for Portland, which started the month with the division lead.
"We're really having some issues on the rush," Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. "It's not a patient, smart brand of hockey right now we're playing. It's an overworking, lack-of-thought type of hockey."
Quick goals by Pascal Pelletier, Jeremy Reich and Martins Karsums enabled the Bruins to take a 5-2 lead less than 12 minutes into the second period.
"It seems to happen so quick right now," said center Tim Brent, who had a goal and an assist for Portland.
"We're playing well. We have a shift where we hem them in their end for a full minute solid. We get three or four golden opportunities that don't go in, hit a crossbar and bang, bang, bang, they score three (goals). You sit on the bench and wonder what the heck just happened."
Providence led 2-1 after the first period.
T.J. Trevelyan opened the scoring at 6:52 after intercepting a clearing pass. It was the seventh power-play goal allowed by the Pirates in the last three games.
About eight minutes later, five seconds after another Providence power play ended, Kris Versteeg made it 2-0 with a fantastic move after skating through the Portland defense.
With 1:09 left, Brent slid in a rebound on a Portland power play.
Matt Keith made it 2-2 when he jammed the puck inside the right post 2:20 into the second period, moments after another power play ended.
Portland tried to rally in the third period.
Less than three minutes in, Zenon Konopka put in the rebound of a shot by Keith, who had three assists, for his 11th goal to make it 5-3.
Less than two minutes later, David Krejci finished off a two-on-one break for his 13th goal to put the Bruins up by three goals again.
With 1:39 left, Chris Durno scored his first goal since coming to Portland in a trade with Norfolk late last month.
NOTES: Before the NHL all-star break, Anaheim reassigned left wing Curtis Glencross to the Pirates after he played two games with the Ducks. Glencross, who scored a goal on his first shot in the NHL, didn't suit up for the game. Defenseman Nick Kuiper, called up from the Augusta Lynx of the ECHL, didn't suit up for the Pirates.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:
Questions/Comments
North of the Border
Recently Seen
Taste of Maine Food Fest
Mothers Day Baseball in Buxton
Trout and Heads
'What Happens in Vegas'
The Baker's Bench
Reverb
Where's the beach?
Casting Call
Reader comments
Sort by: Oldest first | Newest First
I've supported the boys for the past few years I've lived in Portland, and I'll continue to support them rain or shine... But that does not mean I won't sit idly by either, if I think someone's play is less than 100% I'll call it like I see it...report abuse
We can't sit here and blame any one person for this, although everybody would like to point fingers -- that won't solve the problem.
Hey Pirates fans, last years team played their hearts out for what....the FANS! Let's be TRUE FANS and support them this year WIN or LOSE.report abuse
First was the attempted poke check from Mike Wall that resulted in almost an empty net goal for Providence, which earned him an early trip to the shower...
The team seemed to play better for Dov, but he did something to his right leg while reaching for a puck in the first few minutes of the second frame. You could see Dov trying to shake out his leg, but he looked a little shaken... Follow that up with 3 Bruins goals within 1:34 all to that right side and we went from being in contention with the score 2-2 to being well behind the eight-ball at 5-2...
We looked defeated, and at several times I noticed the team had all but given up... Some people who sat next to the Pirates bench confirmed that at a stoppage in play in the third period, as Kevin made an open challenge to play or go home.
They didn't give up an empty net goal towards the end of the game.
Hopefully we can get some measure of vengeance today at the Dunk, but based on the last few games one has to wonder if the team as a whole has it in them...
Oh, and as a sidenote to Mr Betit if he reads this... Nick Kuiper did suit up and play last night. He finished the night with a 0 goals, 0 assists, a -2, and 1 shot. The source is the AHL game summary for AHL Regular Season game 580.report abuse
You must be a registered user of MaineToday.com to post a comment. Register or log in.