Pirates Ready for Three on the Road

Published on March 10, 2003 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


PORTLAND, ME - The Portland Pirates pulled off a feat few teams have this season. They beat the Providence Bruins in Providence to finish a three-game week. The Pirates had dropped a decision to the Bruins the day before and had lost to Manchester earlier in the week. By winning one of three games, the Pirates dropped back into sixth place in the Eastern Conference. With 13 games remaining in the regular season, the Pirates are now 31-23-8-5, good for 75 points. The Pirates will play three games against Eastern Conference opponents this week, traveling to Hartford and Manitoba to close out a four-game road trip.

LAST WEEK:

Wednesday, March 5: Manchester 5, Pirates 3

A depleted Monarchs team ambushed the Pirates, beating their hosts 5-3. The Monarchs entered the game with nine players on recall to the Los Angeles Kings and another five out with injury, but were able to muscle past Portland to retake second place in the North Division. Portland's Mike Farrell struck first with a blast from the point that trickled through Travis Scott's legs. Glen Metropolit put the Pirates up 2-0 early in the second before Manchester finally cracked the scoreboard with a shorthanded goal from Yanick Lehoux. Manchester continued the surge in the third period, with Joe Rullier and Brandon Dietrich scoring to give the Monarchs their first lead of the night at 3-2. After a timeout, Portland knotted the score with a Mark Murphy rebound just 16 seconds after Dietrich's goal. Manchester retook the lead for good as Steve Kelly's backhander beat Maxime Ouellet top shelf. Kelly added an empty net goal for the final score.

Saturday, March 8: Providence 4, Pirates 1

The 100th all-time meeting between Portland and Providence was not one for the scrapbooks as what had begun as a classic goaltenders' duel became a game marred by penalties and ejections. The game was closely contested with the score knotted at 1-1 when Portland's Peter Ferraro was whistled for a five minute major for slashing at the midpoint of the third period. The game erupted in the ensuing minutes as the two teams combined for 166 penalty minutes. The Bruins capitalized on the open ice in the third, hammering home three straight power play goals, including an empty netter in the waning seconds of the game, to take the 4-1 victory. Colin Forbes scored the Pirates' lone goal, his 21st of the year, while Rastislav Stana took the loss with 22 saves.

Sunday, March 9: Pirates 3, Providence 1

The Pirates took their coach's pre-game words to heart, rebounding from a penalty-filled loss on Saturday to put together a team effort to hand Providence just its sixth home loss of the season. Andreas Salomonsson led the Pirates with a goal and an assist while Maxime Ouellet backstopped the victory with 38 saves for his 22nd win of the season. Chris Ferraro picked up the game winner with his even strength tally at the 3:20 mark of the third period, while leading scorer Trent Whitfield added all the insurance Portland would need less than two minutes later. The win marked the second victory for the Pirates at the Dunkin' Donuts Center this season.

PIRATES HAVE THE "NUTMEG STATE" AND CANADIAN PRAIRIE ON THEIR TRAVEL AGENDA

Wednesday, March 12 at Hartford, 7:05 PM

The Pirates travel to Hartford to face the Wolf Pack. This will be the final game of the two-game season series. The two teams skated to a 2-2 OT tie on February 8 in their only other meeting of the season. Maxime Ouellet picked up the tie for Portland in that contest with 35 saves, while Colin Forbes scored the tying goal. Hartford leads the all-time series 13-7-5. The Pirates are 4-6-2 all-time in Hartford. The Wolf Pack has not played since a 6-3 loss to Albany on March 8.

Saturday, March 14 at Manitoba, 8:30 PM (ET)

The Pirates will brave the Winnipeg winter to close out the season series with the Manitoba Moose in back-to-back games. Portland leads the season series, 1-0-1-0. They picked up a 2-2 OT tie in the first ever meeting between the two clubs on October 20 and a 5-2 win on November 1. Both games were in Portland. The Moose are coming off a 3-0 Eastern road trip, beating Bridgeport, Providence and Saint John last weekend. Manitoba will host the Milwaukee Admirals in a two game set on Wednesday, March 12 and Thursday, March 13 prior to welcoming the Pirates.

Sunday, March 16 at Manitoba, 3:00 PM (ET)

The Pirates and Moose will square off for the second time in as many days in the fourth meeting between the two squads this season. Manitoba has a solid grip on second place in the Canadian Division with a 15-point lead over Saint John to begin the week. Currently in 7th in the Eastern Conference, the Moose have just a two-point lead over Hartford and Worcester and lead 10th place Springfield by seven points in the conference standings. The moose have been playing well of late, stringing together three straight wins entering the week and posting a record of 7-2-1-0 in their last ten.

SHIP'S LOG:

· The Pirates and the Providence Bruins met for the 100th time during the regular season on March 8th. The Pirates have played the Bruins more than any team in the AHL. Remarkably, they have only played one playoff series against one another in nine years. That was during the 1995 Calder Cup Playoffs.

· The Pirates 5-3 loss to Manchester on March 5th was their first loss in regulation when leading after two periods.

· For the second straight week, the Pirates set new highs in two penalty categories. The Pirates received 100 penalty minutes against the Bruins on March 8th, a season-high. They were whistled for 96 alone in the third period, a new franchise record for penalty minutes in one period. The old mark was 88.

· Defenseman Matt Libby returned to action on March 8th after missing 33 games with a concussion. He registered an assist in just his second game back, a 3-1 win at Providence on March 9th.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from March 10, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central