Pirates Thrash Sharks For First Home Win

Published on November 8, 2013 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


Lewiston, ME - The Pirates earned their first home win of the 2013-14 season with a 5-1 mauling of the Worcester Sharks Friday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

Lucas Lessio scored his first two goals of the season and Mark Visentin made 45 saves as the Pirates improved to 3-5-0-1 on the season.

Celebrating Military Appreciation Night by honoring veterans and active duty military personnel and wearing special camouflage jerseys, the Pirates came out with plenty of jump. Early on in the first, it looked like the Sharks had taken a 1-0 lead, but the goal was waved off. Taking advantage of the non-goal, the Pirates scored shortly afterwards at 6:37 when Brandon McMillan scored off of a rebound in front of the net. Connor Murphy's shot from the point made its way on net and the rebound found Chris Brown who pushed the puck through the paint and onto the stick of McMillan.

The first period ended with little more action, but in the second, the Pirates exploded, putting three goals in. The first came at 6:24 when Brandon McMillan chased down a puck behind the net and fed Brandon Yip in front. Yip tapped it past Harri Sateri to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. Just over a minute later, the Pirates earned a power play when Matt Pelech was called for elbowing and wasted no time capitalizing with the man-advantage. Gilbert Brule received a pass from Yip, cut to the right circle and took a shot. The puck changed direction after hitting the defender's stick and squeaked past Sateri giving the Pirates a three-goal lead not even halfway through the game. The Sharks finally got onto the scoreboard in the second when Matt Pelech whipped a shot on Mark Visentin from the left side boards. The puck found its way through Visentin and into the back of the net, cutting the Pirates lead to two. The Pirates fired back when Lucas Lessio scored just under four minutes later. With the puck bouncing around, Lessio picked it up and cut towards the net, firing a wrister to the far corner, making the score 4-1 Pirates.

As the second period came to a close, tempers flared between both teams as a scrum in front of the Worcester net turned into fighting. First, it was Danill Tarasov and Connor Murphy trading blows after Tarasov continued to go after Murphy. Then, Taylor Doherty and Chris Brown dropped the gloves with Doherty tackling Brown shortly after. When all was said and done, Tarasov and Murphy each received fighting majors while Doherty and Brown received two for roughing, five for fighting and ten minute misconducts apiece.

The fisticuffs did little to help the Sharks as 2:34 into the third, Lessio potted his second of the night, deflecting a Brule shot past Sateri. The 5-1 lead was more than enough as Visentin slammed the door on the Sharks, registering the second most saves in a single game in his professional career.

The Pirates improve to 1-4-0-1 at home and 3-5-0-1 overall, and avoid tying the franchise record for consecutive home losses. The Pirates will play the Sharks again on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Worcester. The game can be heard on the Pirates flagship stations WPEI 95.5/95.9 FM as well as WEZR AM 1240 in the Lewiston/Auburn area and WTME AM 780/1450 in Oxford County. The game can also be heard online at portlandpirates.com by clicking "Listen Live" and can be seen live on AHL Live at ahllive.com. The pregame show starts at 2:40 with Jeff Mannix.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 8, 2013


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