Thursday, February 8, 2007
UP NEXT
WHO: Pirates at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
WHEN: 7:05 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Wachovia Arena, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
HERSHEY, Pa. ‹ The road woes continued for the Portland Pirates.
Despite totally dominating the first period, the Pirates had nothing better to show than a 1-1 tie.
The Hershey Bears broke the tie with a power-play goal midway through the second period and never looked back en route to posting a 5-2 victory Wednesday night at Giant Center.
The loss was the 11th straight on the road for the Pirates, who began a five-game trip.
"Obviously we have a lot of work in front of us," said Portland Coach Kevin Dineen. "We didn't play the game we needed to play for 60 minutes."
In the first meeting between the teams since Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals last May, the Pirates seemed determined to do to the Bears what the Bears had done to them 81/2 months ago.
Sending the puck in deep, forechecking fiercely and playing a physical game down low, Portland did everything except score. Hershey goalie Frederic Cassivi, who frustrated the Pirates in last season's playoffs, did it again, stopping 13 of 14 first-period shots.
The Bears had only four shots in the first period.
"I don't know what happened, if we took it too lightly or just weren't ready, but they're a hard-working team," said Cassivi. "They came really hard at us but we limited the damages. There were some blocked shots, some rebounds the (defensemen) took care of, and from there, 1-1, it was easier to get back into it."
Portland's goal in the first came when Joe Motzko skated in from the left circle after Timo Helbling of Hershey coughed the puck up at 16:04. But just over two minutes later, Quintin Laing scored a short-handed goal to tie it.
The turning point came when the Bears killed 1:06 of a two-man Portland advantage to start the second period. That set up Joey Tenute's power-play goal at 8:52. Matt Hendricks made it 3-1 at 15:40 of the period.
Clay Wilson got the Pirates within one by banking a shot off Cassivi's pads from behind the net just under five minutes into the third, but Kyle Wilson countered at 7:48, and with 51/2 minutes left, Dave Steckel sealed it by stripping Brett Skinner in the slot and popping the puck over goalie Sebastian Caron.
NOTES: The game drew 6,511 fans. Š The Pirates outshot the Bears, 34-31.
Š Bjorn Melin missed the game with the flu. Š Pierre Parenteau, a former Pirate traded to Norfolk in December, was called up by Chicago his first trip to the NHL. While playing for the Pirates and the Admirals this season, he has 19 goals and 24 assists.
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