Pirates Squeeze by Penguins

Published on November 18, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


Portland, Maine - Curtis McElhinney made 35 saves and Brett MacLean netted the shootout winner in the fifth round as the Portland Pirates defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins by a score of 3-2 this evening in front of 5,254 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Maxim Goncharov and Michael Stone each found the back of the net for Portland and Andy Miele upped his point streak to five games with an assist as the Pirates won their third straight and improved to 7-7-0-1.

Brian Gibbons and reigning Reebok/AHL Player of the Week Ben Street tallied for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, as they dropped their first road contest in nine games (8-0-0-1) and now stand at 10-3-1-2 on the season.

Although out shot in the first period by a 14-3 margin, the Pirates made the most of their limited opportunities, getting on the board first at the 15:31 mark when Jordan Szwarz raced down the right side and found Goncharov for a one-timer directly in front of the goaltender's crease. Trailing by one, nine minutes into the second period, the Penguins were the recipients of fortunate positioning when Stone's attempt to clear a puck off the goal line hit Gibbons and trickled back into the net to tie the game. Portland would take the lead back on another one-time goal, this time by Stone from Miele on a power play with less than five minutes remaining in the middle stanza. As they did in the previous period, the visitors from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton pulled back even on a power-play blast from the left circle by Street, his third of the season. The two teams remained even throughout the remainder of regulation and the extra overtime period, and entered a shootout. Ryan Duncan and Colin MacDonald alternated top-shelf tallies in the first round of the shootout, followed by three consecutive misses for each team until MacLean gave the hosts the upper hand with a backhand tally and McElhinney stopped Jason Williams' attempt to seal the game.

The Penguins out-shot the Pirates by a 37-23 margin as McElhinney halted a personal three-game losing streak and improved to 3-6-0 on the season. Munroe stopped 20 shots while dropping to 1-1-2 on the season.

The Allied Home Mortgage Three Stars of the Game were: 1. McElhinney; 2. MacLean; 3. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defenseman Simon Depres.

The current four-game homestand will conclude tomorrow night, Saturday, November 19, against the Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. Camp Bow Wow and The Portland Daily Sun will be presenting Adopt-a-Dog Night where Canine Commitment will have dogs at the game for fans to adopt. Also, donate either a dog toy or a dog or cat food item and receive two free tickets to a future Pirates game. All donations and proceeds from dedicated ticket sales will go to the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland, the Animal Welfare Society of Kennebunk, the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation and other local rescue organizations. The Pirates and USA Hockey are proud to offer all USA Hockey Members, their families and friends the ability to buy discounted tickets to this game by visiting PortlandPirates.com. In addition to the Saturday festivities will be the first KeyBank Student Rewards night of the season. The Pirates and KeyBank have partnered to recognize and reward students across Maine for their collective and individual achievements. During the past twelve seasons, over 62,000 students from over 250 Maine schools have been rewarded for their hard work both inside and outside of the classroom with free tickets to Pirates hockey games through the KeyBank Student Rewards program. Also, be sure to venture down to the Civic Center's Penalty Box Grille for the second of four "Meet the Pirates" events happening this season.

Now is the time to cash in on great savings by purchasing discounted ticket plans and advance tickets for the Pirates 2011-12 season. Ticket packages are available to meet all budgets and schedules. Call a Pirates ticket representative today at 207-828-4665 x350 to reserve your seats for any combination of games that Pirates hockey, "Coyotes Style", has to offer. Individual tickets for the each of the remaining 30 home games of the Pirates 2011-12 regular season schedule are on sale and fans can purchase their tickets by visiting the Pirates ticket office, Cumberland County Civic Center box office (open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.) or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

Proud Purveyors of Pain and Pleasure PORTLANDPIRATES.COM -###- Brent Marcotte Director, Communications & Team Services Portland Pirates LLC 94 Free Street, Portland, ME 04101 207-828-4665 Ext. 313 f. 207-828-0479 c. 207-807-5272 bmarcotte@portlandpirates.com www.portlandpirates.com Please consider the environment before printing this, or any e-mail.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 18, 2011


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