Saturday, February 10, 2007
TODAY'S GAME
WHO: Portland Pirates vs. Norfolk Admirals
WHEN: 7:15 p.m.
WHERE: Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, Va.
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The long hard road continues this week for the Portland Pirates, but a 2-1 win on Friday night over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will make an overnight bus ride to Virginia much more palatable.
The win snapped an 11-game road losing streak for the Pirates, who had not won away from Portland since a win at Lowell on Nov. 24. The Pirates departed for Norfolk, Va., a 413-mile jaunt, for a game tonight with the AHL-leading Norfolk Admirals. Portland will remain in Virginia for a rematch next Wednesday.
"We've prided ourselves on our play on the road last year, so that's been a frustrating stat," Coach Kevin Dineen said of the Pirates' road woes. "It was good to see us play a very solid all-around game, from goalie to defense to power play. A lot of good things happened tonight."
"This is a heck of a building," Dineen continued. "That's a huge thing for us to come into this building and to get some points."
Pirates goaltender Sebastien Caron, who along with newly acquired center Shane Endicott was making a homecoming to Wilkes-Barre, faced only 22 shots but the former Penguin saved much of his best work for the third period.
"What a great game he played," Dineen said of his goaltender.
Devan Dubnyk made 18 saves on 20 shots for the Penguins.
The Pirates used a pair of power-play goals on six opportunities to generate the necessary offense, then held the AHL's second-best power play scoreless on four chances.
Joe Motzko's 15th goal of the season late in the second period provided the Pirates a lead that they nursed through much of the third period.
Then a knuckler by Tim Brent fooled Dubnyk with 1:12 remaining in the third period, giving Portland a 2-0 lead.
The Penguins' J.F. Jacques poked a loose rebound past Caron with two seconds to play and Dubnyk pulled.
A mostly quiet game lacking any serious tension turned chippy after a Greg Amadio hit along the sideboards early in the third period that enraged Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defenseman Wade Skolney.
Amadio and Skolney squared off in two separate bouts during the ensuing skirmish, and Skolney finished the night with 39 penalty minutes.
NOTES: Center Mark Hartigan and Ryan Shannon swapped places on Friday. Anaheim recalled Shannon and loaned Hartigan to the Pirates. Hartigan headed directly to Norfolk and will meet his teammates when they pull into town early this morning.
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