Friday, February 2, 2007
PIRATES' NEXT TWO
TODAY: Pirates at Providence, 7:05 p.m.
SATURDAY: Bridgeport at Pirates, 7:05 p.m.
If the Portland Pirates are going to remain in contention for a playoff berth in the American Hockey League's highly-competitive Atlantic Division, they're going to have to start winning on the road.
It's that simple.
Last season, the Pirates won a league-record 27 road games to capture the team's first division title.
Tonight at Providence, Portland starts a stretch where it plays 9 of 11 games away.
And, the road has been very unkind to the Pirates this season; they've lost a franchise-record nine straight road games.
Since Christmas, Portland has dropped from first to fifth place in the seven-team Atlantic Division. It has lost its last six.
"All of us are obviously disappointed," Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. "We're aware of where we've faltered as of late, and now we have to find our execution."
Tonight's game will be the Pirates' first following the AHL's four-day All-Star break.
"We have to find a rallying point," Dineen said, "No better way to start than to have a Providence, a Manchester, a Hartford or Springfield. It's been a tough road for us in our division."
Although Portland hasn't won away from the Cumberland County Civic Center since Nov. 24, when it eked out a 2-1 win at Lowell, each of its last seven road losses have been by one goal. During their swoon, the Pirates have been competitive.
"Competitive is a word I use a lot around the locker room," Dineen said. "The margin of error is very small. I could say the same thing at the beginning of the year, too, where there were a lot of one-goal games that we were finding ways to win."
Next week, the Pirates will start a five-game swing through Pennsylvania and Virginia against some of the AHL's top teams; they'll meet the Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears on Wednesday.
Later in the month, the Pirates will take a four-day trip to Providence, Worcester and Albany.
Because of trades and call-ups, the Pirates have been in a state of flux for the past five weeks.
Nine of the 23 players on the current roster were not on the team when the season began.
Thursday was the first full practice with the Pirates for right wing Joe Motzko, who came from the Columbus Blue Jackets' organization with center Mark Hartigan as part of the trade for center Zenon Konopka and left wing Curtis Glencross, and center Shane Endicott, who came from the Nashville Predators in a trade for Chris Durno.
"You want to go through a lot of things, but we touched (only) a few things briefly today," Dineen said. "I wanted these guys out there to get a little feel for each other and (do) some drills, what I like to call chemistry drills, where they were working with each other and the lines they will most likely be on."
In Thursday's practice, Motzko, who had 13 goals and 23 assists to lead the Syracuse Crunch in total points before the trade, skated with Ryan Shannon and Endicott.
"You got to give yourself time to get to know the guys, get to know the systems," said Motzko, who scored a goal to help rally Team Planet-USA team to a 7-6 win against Team Canada in the AHL All-Star game Monday night in Toronto.
"It's just an adjustment period, where you take some time to get to know the guys and get comfortable."
NOTES: Goaltender Sebastien Caron, who is recovering from a broken finger, is expected to rejoin the Pirates today after spending the past month in the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:
Questions/Comments
North of the Border
Recently Seen
May Pajama Story Time
Pirates PlayOff Hockey Game - May 6
Propel event
'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
Kevin is dead on; about finding a rally point, and about the margin of error being a goal against us as opposed to for us.
And Pirates teams of the past have perenially had better second halves of the season because someone steps up and carries the team.
Maybe we needed to start over with almost a clean slate? The players that are gone were the foundation for the team at the start of the season, although that foundation seemed to come apart pretty quickly following the departures of Leighton, Parenteau, and St Jacques.
But I am adamant when I say that running a farm team is very different than running an NHL team, and I don't know what Brian Burke is trying to really accomplish by treating these issues much like he's been treating Anaheim's issues.
We needed a reliable goaltender following Micheal being claimed off waiver. When a goaltender was traded for, we saw him for all of one game and then he was gone. While Dov raised everyone's expections, he is not really the Ducks long-term answer in net.
We needed a goal scorer. When Z and Curtis were traded away, it took almost a week before we could see Shane and Joe in a Pirates sweater (even longer for Mark I hear).
The only thing that he has brought to us is now an overabundance of defensemen that are not future prospects and are not NHL-ready. And defensemen do not fix offensive woes, or defensive woes (Wall did give up 6 tallies following the trade).
I hope I am wrong, and I hope Endicott and Bemidji-boy Motzko turn out to be just what the team needs. I really do hope they are all it takes to give this ship some firepower.
But with Brian Burke at the helm, I have to wonder if this is this is the best for the present and future of the Pirates, or just a stop gap fix that will shortchange everyone down the road.report abuse
You are the most flaming piece of work I have ever seen. Enough already. All the kids have been spanked and sent to bed. Let their hineys heal and worry more about your million dollar big boys putting you to bed with Stanley in a few months.
Sincerely,
Sore hineyed Pirates Fanreport abuse
You must be a registered user of MaineToday.com to post a comment. Register or log in.