Pirates Storm Back Against Phantoms

Published on November 15, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


Portland, Maine - Tyler Eckford, Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Andy Miele each contributed multi-point nights with a goal and an assist and Marc Cheverie stopped all 17 shots that he faced in relief as the Portland Pirates defeated the Adirondack Phantoms by a score of 4-2 this evening in front of 5,029 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Jordan Szwarz also found the back of the net with his first career professional goal as the Pirates won back-to-back games for the first time this season, raising their record to 6-7-0-1.

Ben Holmstrom and Jason Akeson each registered a goal and an assist and Garrett Roe tabbed a pair of assists for Adirondack as they dropped to 8-5-0-1 on the season.

The Phantoms jumped out to an early advantage eight minutes into the opening frame, scoring a pair of five-on-three power-play goals by Holmstrom and Akeson (both their second tallies of the season) in a span of 38 seconds, to chase Portland goaltender Curtis McElhinney and bring on Cheverie who was recently reassigned to Portland from the ECHL's Gwinnett Gladiators. Pouliot cut the Adirondack lead to one on a spinning wrist-shot from in front of the goaltender's crease, to give the Pirates their first goal on Michael Leighton in 76 minutes this season. At the 12:38 mark of the second period, Eckford brought the Pirates back even with a power-play blast of his own from the left circle for his first goal of the season and the only tally of the frame. Portland took the lead for the first time of the game nearly six minutes into the third period, when Mathieu Beaudoin skated around the Adirondack net and found Miele open in front of the crease, who tapped it in to extend his point streak to four games. Szwarz sealed the victory for the Pirates, beating Leighton directly after an offensive zone faceoff, with just over seven minutes remaining in the contest.

The Pirates out-shot the Phantoms by a 30-24 margin as Cheverie received the victory in his Portland and 2011-12 AHL debut. Leighton stopped 26 shots while dropping to 6-4-0 on the season with the loss.

The Allied Home Mortgage Three Stars of the Game were: 1. Eckford; 2. Pouliot; 3. Miele.

The current four-game homestand will resume at the Civic Center on Friday, November 18 against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and will conclude on Saturday, November 19 against the Providence Bruins - both 7 p.m. starts. Featured during Friday's game against the Penguins will be a free Portland Pirates newspaper poster giveaway to the first 1,000 fans, courtesy of the Portland Press Herald, as well as another Dollar Desert Dog Night where fans can purchase their "Dollar Desert Dog" hot dogs for a single dollar at any of the Civic Center concession locations on the concourse from an hour before faceoff until 10 minutes after the second period begins.

On Saturday against Providence, 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 31 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.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 15, 2011


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