Monday, March 26, 2007
COMING UP
WEDNESDAY: Pirates at Manchester, 7:05 p.m.
FRIDAY: Pirates at Lowell, 7:05 p.m.
SATURDAY: Pirates at Springfield, 7:05 p.m.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Considering how frustrated the Portland Pirates were in a shutout loss Saturday night against Bridgeport, a good start against goalie Wade Dubielewicz was crucial in the rematch Sunday afternoon.
The Pirates got to Dubielewicz early, scoring two minutes into the game on the way to a 5-2 victory over the Sound Tigers at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
"Especially against a guy that doesn't give up too many goals, that was a big (boost) right away for the whole team," said Pirates forward Mark Hartigan, who had four assists. "We knew if we could get to him, we could keep putting the puck in the net."
Dubielewicz's 36-save performance Saturday helped a Bridgeport team ravaged by injuries and recalls shut out Portland, 2-0. Since Dubielewicz also had played Friday, Pirates Coach Kevin Dineen said the game plan was to challenge him early and often.
"He's won them a bucket load of hockey games this year, and my feeling was he's played a lot of hockey in the last two days," Dineen said. "We created a lot of chances (Saturday) night, we worked him hard and we might have caught him a little tired."
The win was especially big for Portland because the two teams it's chasing for the fourth and final playoff spot in the AHL Atlantic Division, Worcester and Lowell, were idle Sunday. With 10 games left, the Pirates trail fourth-place Worcester by seven points and Lowell by five.
It was just the second time since October the Pirates scored more than four goals in a road game. They also got a strong performance from rookie goalie David McKee, who had 23 saves in his AHL debut.
McKee, who had played the entire season with Augusta of the ECHL, allowed a goal on the first shot he faced, but settled down to stop 21 of 22 shots over the last two periods.
"He's played some good hockey in Augusta, so it was a deserved call-up," Dineen said.
Greg Amadio opened the scoring on Portland's second shot 2:21 into the first. As he was being tripped from behind, Amadio lifted a wrist shot from his knees over Dubielewicz, who had 22 saves.
Bridgeport answered 37 seconds later as Jason Pitton skated around Pirates defenseman Aaron Rome at the blue line and fired the puck over McKee's glove.
The Pirates, who held a 16-3 advantage in shots in the first period, went ahead 2-1 with 3:02 remaining. Joe Motzko took a short pass from Hartigan down low and jammed the puck in at the left post.
Each team scored late in the second period. Frans Nielsen had a short-handed goal for Bridgeport with 2:55 left, and Motzko beat Dubielewicz with a high shot 35 seconds later to put Portland in front, 3-2.
Mike Hoffman and Drew Miller each scored in the third for Portland, which snapped a four-game road losing streak.
NOTES: Dineen said he doesn't expect Sebastien Caron, who was recalled by Anaheim last week because Jean-Sebastien Giguere's wife is expecting the couple's first child, to be back in Portland this season. That leaves the Pirates with McKee and Gerald Coleman in goal. Defenseman Brian Salcido missed the game with a facial laceration.
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Reader comments
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But two congratulations do need to go out. One is to the Ducks netminder of the future David McKee, who recorded his first AHL victory in his first AHL regular season game. He faced a good Sound Tigers team, albeit one without Brandon Boginecki (sp?).
The other congratulations deserves to go out to Mark Hartigan who recorded four helpers on the afternoon. It's not listed in this article but Mark was one assist shy of tying the Portland Pirates franchise record for assists by a player in a game, so that in itself deserves a tip of the cap.
But now on to the other news, which is that Sebastien Caron will most likely spend the remainder of the season with the Ducks. This is a major blow to our playoff chances. No slight towards Gerald or David, but I feel less than confident about our chances with either one in the net. I also feel this is a sign from Brian Burke, that he is trying to signal his lack of faith in the Pirates. Some people seem to think that other people will go up to Anaheim when all hope is lost, but for me I think this is the signal.
And it's a shame, because this is the same guy who said that he'll do whatever it takes to make the Pirates a winner. Now he is reneging this agreement by taking the most available and steadiest netminder possible out of here, when we still have a chance to make the playoffs... For shame Brian...
But from here on out the Pirates need to play good, sound hockey to make the playoffs. Our next 3 games prior to Sunday are on the road against divisional rivals, and at the point we will not play anyone outside of the division for the rest of the regular season. Every win becomes important, every point will be needed, and now is the time for the home team to prove themselves.
GO PIRATES!report abuse
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