Pirates Hand Rival Bruins 4-2 Loss

Published on December 20, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


Portland, ME - The Portland Pirates closed the game atop the Atlantic Division to one point with a 4-2 win over the division leading Providence Bruins.

The Bruins struck first nearing the midpoint of the opening period when Johnny Boychuk tallied his seventh goal of the season on a power play, with the assists going to Jeff Penner and Peter Schaefer. The Pirates would answer late in the period. Marek Zagrapan skated down the right wing with a burst of speed into the offensive end and threw a puck to the front of the net. Derek Whitmore was crashing the net and jammed home the loose puck for his fourth goal of the season. Zagrapan got an assist along with Matt MacDonald at 17:55 of the first period, and the score after 20 minutes was 1-1.

In the second period, the Pirates would grab the lead when Dylan Hunter found a rebound right on the doorstep and shot it up high to beat Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask. Mathieu Darche and Paul Baier picked up the assists on Hunter's first goal of the season. Portland extended its advantage when Marek Zagrapan took a shot from the right wing that deflected towards the net. Mathieu Darche batted it out of mid-air and past Rask to give Portland a 3-1 lead. Darche and Dylan Hunter picked up the assists and the Pirates took a lead into the third period for the first time since a December 6th win in Lowell.

Portland took advantage of an early offensive flurry when Colton Fretter scored his 10th goal of the season from Paul Baier and Felix Schutz to extend the Pirates lead to 4-1. Just past the midpoint of the period, the bad blood would boil over with three fights breaking out at once as Derek Whitmore dropped the gloves with Wacey Rabbit. Colin Murphy then paired up with Byron Bitz while Paul Baier grabbed Jeremy Reich. In all, 72 minutes in penalties were dished out during the scrum. Providence added a late goal off a Peter Schaefer wrist shot to cut the Portland lead to 4-2, with Martins Karsums and Brad Marchand picking up helpers, but the Pirates prevailed by a final score of 4-2. Enroth picked up the victory by stopping 18 of 20 shots. Tuukka Rask stopped 25 of 29 shots he faced before being yanked after 45:36 and took the loss. Kevin Regan stopped all 5 shots thrown his way.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 20, 2008


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