Pirates drop another in a shootout, 4-3

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By PHIL JANACK, Special to Maine Sunday Telegram

Sunday, February 25, 2007

TODAY'S GAME

WHO: Pirates vs. Lowell Devils

WHEN: 4:05 p.m.

WHERE: Cumberland County Civic Center

ALBANY, N.Y. - What began well for the Portland Pirates Saturday night ended in an all-too-familiar, frustrating fashion.

Portland battled back after blowing a two-goal lead in the first period to send the game to overtime, but failed to score in the shootout and dropped a 4-3 decision to the Albany River Rats at the Times Union Center.

It was the eighth shootout loss in 13 attempts this season for the Pirates (25-21-2-8), who trail Lowell and Worcester by one point for fourth place in the Atlantic Division.

"I said in October that I really enjoy the shootout, but we lead the league in shootout losses," Coach Kevin Dineen said. "That's something that can come back and bite you at the end of the year. That's eight points that we've given up strictly on shootouts, and that's the difference between us being in second place and battling for a playoff spot."

The first period was just past the halfway point when Portland struck twice in 13 seconds for a 2-0 lead. Joe Motzko netted his 20th at 12:05, flipping in a backhander over Albany goalie Tyler Weiman's blocker.

Trevor Gillies followed at 12:18, stuffing a loose puck under Weiman's left pad.

The Rats were able to cut the deficit in half at 16:01, when Keith Aucoin fed defenseman Kyle Cumiskey for a one-timer that got through a screen and past Pirates goalie Sebastien Caron. Aucoin finished with a goal and two assists.

"When you have a 2-0 lead, that's something you want to take a lot of pride in and walk out of here and say that's a very winnable game," Dineen said. "It's the little things we keep talking about that seem to come back and bite you ... at the end of the night if you don't bear down for 60 minutes.

"They have such an explosive couple players over there, you've really got to acknowledge them. It doesn't take any further than looking at their stats to know who their most dangerous guy is, and Aucoin went out and had another great night."

Aucoin passed to Anton Babchuk on a two-on-one break for a short-handed goal 4:20 into the second period to make it 2-2, then gave Albany its first lead 3:07 into the third on a turnaround shot high over Caron's glove.

Defenseman Eric Weinrich was alone in the slot to whip a wrist shot past Weiman with 4:07 left in the third to send the game to overtime.

It was Weinrich's first goal of the season and first in the AHL since 1989-90.

Mark Hartigan had a chance to win the game for Portland, in on a breakaway 40 seconds into overtime, but his slap shot from 10 feet out sailed wide.

Both the Pirates' Geoff Peters and the Rats' Ryan Bayda hit posts in the shootout before Jakub Petruzalek found room under Caron's arm on Albany's fourth attempt.

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