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Pirates Look to Snap Streak, Tame Tigers

April 16, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


Portland, ME - The Portland Pirates look to snap their season high 4 game losing streak as they head to Bridgeport to face off against the Sound Tigers on Tuesday. Puck drop is set for 7 PM from Webster Bank Arena. The Pirates currently sit in the 6th spot in the Eastern Conference with 81 points, and have a magic number of 3 to clinch a playoff spot. Check out the AHL playoff primer here .

The Pirates are coming off a tough 6-3 loss at home against the Hershey Bears. Although the Pirates outshot the Bears 32-25, Hershey goaltender Philipp Grubauer came up with 29 saves. Bears forward Joey Crabb totaled 4 points in the game, racking up a hat trick and an assist while AHL leading scorer Jeff Taffe totaled 5 assists on the night. Pirates goals came from newly acquired Troy Bodie, who had 2 on the night, and defenseman Maxim Goncharov.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers are fresh off a 3-2 overtime victory against East Division leading Syracuse Crunch on Sunday. Goaltender Rick DiPietro let up 2 goals in the first period, then blanked the Crunch for the rest of the game, facing 30 shots and saving 28 on the night. Bridgeport forward Nino Niederreiter netted the game tying goal in the third with center Brock Nelson scoring the game winner 2:42 into the overtime period.

The last time these two teams met was on the Tigers' home ice, where the Pirates won 6-3 in decisive fashion. Pirates forward Jordan Szwarz totaled 3 points, coming from 2 goals and an assist, while Evan Brophey and Brendan Shinnimin each added goal and 2 assists. The Pirates were outshot 42-38, but Pirates goaltender Mark Visentin managed to stop a tremendous 39 shots. Bridgeport tallies came from Casey Cizikas, Matt Watkins, and Blair Riley, while goaltender Kevin Poulin stopped 32 of 37 shots he faced.

This is the fourth meeting between the teams and a makeup of a snowed out game on February 9th. Portland has won the first 3 games of the season series, but face the Sound Tigers in three of their final 4 matchups starting tonight. A Pirates win would snap their season long 4 game losing streak while reducing their magic number to clinch a 2013 Calder Cup Playoff spot to 1.

Tonight's game can be heard on AM 1310 WLOB and online on portlandpiratesradio.com and AHL Live. The pregame show starts at 6:40 with Jeff Mannix.

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