Maine Hockey Journal

Pirates crunched by Syracuse in second period

Portland Pirates regular season contest against the Syracuse Crunch at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine on 3/4/2016. (PHOTO: Michael McSweeney/Portland Pirates)

Portland Pirates regular season contest against the Syracuse Crunch at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine on 3/4/2016. (PHOTO: Michael McSweeney/Portland Pirates)

PORTLAND – The Portland Pirates worked hard, showed plenty of effort and had more than their fair share of opportunities to score.

Yet, none of that mattered when the final buzzer sounded, and the scoreboard showed the Pirates had suffered a 3-1 defeat to the Syracuse Crunch for their fifth loss (2-3-1-1) in their last seven games.

“Every game we lose I’m frustrated,” said a subdued Pirates coach Scott Allen after the game.

With the game tied, 1-1, Syracuse took the lead on a goal with two minutes left in the second period.

Anthony DeAngelo fired a shot on goal that was stopped by Pirates’ goaltender Sam Brittain, but the rebound was kicked out to Tanner Richard in the right circle for an easy shot at an open net, and a 2-1 Crunch lead after forty minutes.

The Pirates were manhandled by a much more physical Crunch squad, leading to several turnovers and other uncharacteristic mistakes. Syracuse outshot Portland in the period, 18-6.

“I’m more concerned with the 15-minute letdown we had in the second period,” said Allen. “I thought the first period we were fine. The first five minutes of the second period we were ok. They outworked us 15 straight minutes in that second period.

“They just worked hard,” Allen added about the Crunch. “They got to the net. They did the necessary things that a team has to do to win.”

John McFarland had the puck roll of his stick with an open net, Connor Brickley had a shot sail wide of Crunch goaltender Adam Wilcox and the Pirates had a power play late in the period to get the equalizer.

As Roberto Duran said in 1980. “No Mas”

Greg McKegg, recently assigned to Portland on Monday, made a cross-ice pass to McFarland, who couldn’t get his stick on the puck, missing a wide open net with 11 minutes left in the period.

“It was one of those where the puck rolled,” said McFarland. “Kegger made a great play. Nothing else he could really do. It came off my stick, but it didn’t come off flat, and I ended up flubbing it.”

Wilcox, who stopped 29 shots, snagged a hard slap shot from Brickley only four minutes later to keep the Crunch out front, 2-1.

Portland’s best opportunity to get the equalizer came with 1:35 left in the game as Richard was called for kneeing on Cameron Gaunce.

It was an opportunity short lived. Just 17 seconds later, McFarland called for roughing, a penalty he admitted he wished he hadn’t taken, ended the Pirates power play.

“We take a bad penalty to even it up four-on-four, and don’t give ourselves a chance,” Allen said.

“It’s a bad penalty,” McFarland admitted. “It’s something that I can’t take. I know I let my team down there. I’m disappointed obviously in myself. It’s a penalty I can’t take.”

Mike Angelidis tallied an empty-goal with five seconds left in the game.

The Pirates (31-21-2-1) remain in third place in an ever so tightening AHL Atlantic Division. The top two teams, Hershey Bears, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have an 11-point lead over the Pirates in third place but are just separated by three points for the top spot. The Pirates, Providence Bruins and Bridgeport Sound Tigers are separated by a mere one point.

The Pirates will face the Bruins twice this weekend in a home-in-home series, starting Saturday at the Cross Insurance Arena, and the schedule won’t get any easier for Portland has six of their final seven weekends consist of three games in three days.

“We know what they like,” McFarland said about the PBruins. “We’ve played them a lot. It should be a good test for us. We have to put tonight behind us, learn from it and take what we need out of it and look forward to tomorrow.”

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead only five minutes into the first period with a power play goal from Connor Brickley.

With Mike Angelidis in the box for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct after arguing the original penalty, Portland took advantage of the first half of the double-minor as Brickley snapped a shot from the right circle past Wilcox.

It was the third straight game the Pirates have scored a power play goal after going 0-for-35 in the previous ten games.

Rocco Grimaldi nearly made it 2-0 with a slap shot that hit off the crossbar.

Syracuse scored the equalizer with 4:32 to play in the period.

Yanni Gourde got the loose puck rebound from Sam Brittain and chipped a shot into the upper left corner of the net.

Brittain finished with 30 saves on 32 shots.

NOTES: Mike McKenna was assigned to Portland on Friday after backing up Roberto Luongo for two games with the parent club, Florida Panthers. McKenna was recalled on Monday on an emergency basis after Al Montoya was injured during last Sunday’s game at Minnesota and was forced to leave the game with a neck strain. McKenna is three victories shy of equaling the franchise record for all-time wins that is currently held by Martin Brochu.

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