Maine Hockey Journal

Balanced scoring helps Pirates snap losing streak

Six different players scored for the Portland Pirates to snap a four-game losing streak with a 6-2 victory over the Springfield Falcons before 1,568 at the MassMutual Center Sunday afternoon.

The Pirates (8-10-0-0), who dropped a pair of games on home ice to the Utica Comets, were looking to get back into the win column for the first time in 11 days. It was Portland’s fifth win in their last 14 games.

John McFarland and Garrett Wilson each had two assists in the game, while Rocco Grimaldi and Wayne Simpson recorded their first goals of the season.

Grimaldi, who was assigned to Portland last Wednesday, opened the scoring at the 12:16 mark for the only goal of the first period on a spin-o-rama type play, beating Falcons’ goalie Louis Domingue.

Former Pirates forward Lucas Lessio tied the game for the Falcons just 1:02 into the second period after to getting to the rebound and flipping it over Pirates’ goaltender Sam Brittain.

They were more feed up,” said Pirates coach Tom Rowe of the team’s mood during the second intermission. “They didn’t seem panicked at all. It was real business like which was good to see. When you have guys like Regner and Gaunce on the backend to drive the ship for us, and Wilson up front and Harper, who are good soldiers for the kids to follow.”

It paid off in the final period as Portland scored five times.

“It was an unbelievable push,” said Rowe. “The guys fed off the momentum. It brought a lot of good energy to the bench.

Simpson, who is tied for second in team scoring with 10 assists, outhustled Philip Samuelsson to win the footrace, chipping a shot past Domingue at 7:23 of the third period.

“It was good for Simpson getting his first one of the year,” said Rowe. “The way he drove to the net and open up Domingue, it was nice to see.”

Only 1:40 later, the Pirates added an insurance goal after Rob Flick tallied his first goal since opening night with a quick shot off the draw, beating Domingue to the short side to extend Portland’s lead, 3-1.

“Flick was unbelievable,” said Rowe. “He had inside position on the guy right off the draw. That’s not easy to do. He powered himself in there. The shot he beat Domingue, short side high, was pretty impressive.”

At 11:43, Shane Harper used his speed off the rush down the right half-wall, cutting toward the net and getting a shot off before colliding into the Domingue. Harper, who finished last season with 32 goals with the Chicago Wolves, tallied his second goal of the season on the play.

“(Harper) is a hard-working kid,” said Rowe. “He’s scored 30 (goals) in this league for a reason and a lot of it was like that around the net, down close, driving the net hard.”

Laurent Dauphin tipped a shot by Brittain, who finished with 23 saves, to cut the lead in half, 4-2, with 4:17 remaining in regulation.

Falcons’ coach Ron Rolston began pulling Domingue to the bench periodically with about five minutes to play in the period, and the Pirates added two empty net goals from Kyle Rau and Brett Olson for a 6-2 lead.

“We were a desperate group, which was good to see,” said Rowe. “They were rewarded for all the chances they’d been getting the last couple of games. It was good to see them finally start to drop and go in.”

You must be logged in to post a comment Login