Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Staff photo by Jill Brady
Pirates Coach Kevin Dineen says he's not going to "publicly display all our aches and pains," but the play on the ice has been saying it all.
DOUBLE DUTY
Players who have played for the AHL Pirates and NHL Ducks this season:
Goalies: Mike Wall, Sebastien Caron
Defense: Kent Huskins, Ian Moran, Aaron Rome
Forwards: Tim Brent, Stanislav Chistov, Curtis Glencross, Bjorn Melin, Ryan Shannon, Shawn Thornton
The negatives are beginning to pile up for the Portland Pirates.
The Pirates' four-game losing streak is their longest of the season.
During their losing streak, special-team play has been an especially vexing problem. In the last four games, Portland has killed off only 16 of its opponents' 25 power plays, a porous 64 penalty-kill rate, while scoring on just two of its 21 power plays, a dismal 9.5 percent success rate.
"I can sit here and publicly criticize these guys but we're not going to do that," Coach Kevin Dineen said. "Obviously we know that is unacceptable, and special teams is certainly something that's going to be addressed."
The Pirates' troubles began long before their current losing streak.
Since the start of January, the Pirates have slid from first to fifth place in the Atlantic Division, their lowest position in the standings since their affiliation with Anaheim began two years ago.
The top four teams in the division qualify for the playoffs.
In the 10 games this month, the Pirates have earned six of a possible 20 points. The Pirates are coming off a brutal stretch in which they played seven games in 10 days, making it difficult to find practice time to make necessary adjustments.
"Our fatigue factor is an issue," Dineen said.
"That makes it hard so you find other avenues, whether you use the chalkboard, video or walk-throughs on the ice instead of banging their heads."
Long before January rolled around, there were signs the team was struggling. Dating back to Nov. 26, Portland has lost a franchise-record eight consecutive road games to eclipse the previous mark of six set in 1996.
"The way a team plays on the road is an important aspect to how your whole team plays," Dineen said.
The Pirates started the season by winning six of their first nine road games.
"If your team is not a quality road team, then you're fighting an uphill battle."
With 37 games left in the regular season, there's plenty of time for the Pirates to turn things around.
"I could sit here and point out a number of things that need to be fixed," Dineen said. "But to publicly display all our aches and pains is not a good thing to do.
"I read articles about other teams and I look at the stats, and I think other coaches do that, too."
Still, the Pirates will need to get their house in order soon, especially when they go on the road.
Over the next five weeks, Portland will play 10 of its next 14 games away from its home Cumberland County Civic Center.
SINCE THE START of the new year, the top brass from Anaheim has spent a lot of time in Portland watching the Pirates.
Last week Bob Murray, the head of hockey operations for the Ducks, spent four days in Maine, watching three games.
The previous weekend, the Anaheim assistant general manager, David McNab, watched one AHL game at the Cumberland County Civic Center following a two-day visit to watch the University of Maine play at Orono.
The weekend before that, Anaheim General Manager Brian Burke, one of the original Maine Mariners, took in two Pirates games at the Civic Center.
"We normally have someone at most games," Murray said. "We as an organization don't miss too many games. People are here."
That constant review of the Pirates helps the parent club when it needs to call up a player to the NHL.
Said Murray: "When we need a player, the call goes out -- 'Who's seen them last? Who was the best player for the position we need up top?' "
So far this season, 11 players have split their time between Portland and the Ducks.
"Last year we didn't have any injuries," Murray said. "This year for the first 30 games we had no injuries, and now we're getting nailed."
According to Murray, the Ducks expect goalie J.S. Giguere, as well as defensemen Chris Pronger and Francois Beauchemin, who all have been sidelined for extended periods, to return to action following the National Hockey League All-Star break.
PROVIDENCE CENTER David Krejci was named AHL Player of the Week after recording four goals and four assists to lead the Bruins to victories in three of the four games.
Portland forward Colby Genoway, who scored two goals and had an assist as the Pirates lost all four of their games, also was nominated.
Included among the other nominees for the weekly award were a former Pirate, Graham Mink, who scored four goals to help Worcester win three of its four games.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:
Questions/Comments
North of the Border
Recently Seen
Pirates PlayOff Hockey Game - May 6
Propel event
Reiche Library Closure Protest
'What Happens in Vegas'
The Baker's Bench
The Big Lebowski
Where's the beach?
Casting Call
Reader comments
Sort by: Oldest first | Newest First
The PK unit is not as bad as we rank 2nd in the Division behind Hartford, but our 81.9% still puts us at 15th in the 27-team league. However the upper 1/3rd of the league finishes within the mid-point in terms of being a man down, so this stat may not be an indicator of good or bad play.
Our PK isn't as bad as it seems, but our powerplay is definately an area to work on. I'd tend to think though that if we could find the twine more often our man advantage numbers would definately improve. So maybe its our overall offense that needs the improvement and not just the special teams.
Hopefully the Ducks can get as healthy as they can get after the All-Star break, because that NHL experience can be quite helpful to our boys. They need something to lift their spirits and build confidence, and maybe all it might take is getting Kent, Sebastien, and Curtis back on track with the rest of the team.
And this will be all the more important with our annual late-season road trip, complete with a swing through Eastern Division foes Hershey, Wilkes Barre/Scranton, twice at Conference leader Norfolk, and Philadelphia.
GO PIRATES!report abuse
You must be a registered user of MaineToday.com to post a comment. Register or log in.