Maine Hockey Journal

Pirates continue downward spiral

Portland Pirates regular season contest against the Hartford Wolf Pack at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine on 3/13/2016. (PHOTO: Michael McSweeney/Portland Pirates)

Portland Pirates regular season contest against the Hartford Wolf Pack at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine on 3/13/2016. (PHOTO: Michael McSweeney/Portland Pirates)

PORTLAND – The road to the Calder Cup playoffs for the Portland Pirates is becoming more muddied by the day.

Ryan Graves scored two goals including the game-winning goal to send the Pirates to their sixth straight loss Sunday afternoon with 4-3 Hartford Wolf Pack victory in front of 3,401 at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.

The Pirates (31-24-3-2) find themselves in a deepening hole with 16 games remaining in the regular season as they attempt to secure a playoff berth. The Pirates, who have just two wins in their last 12 games (2-6-2-2), are still looking for their first victory in the month of March.

“There are peaks and valley throughout the regular season,” said Pirates coach Scott Allen. “If you get caught up at the beginning of the year thinking that it’s something that you are going to be able to ride out. There are a whole lot of things that play into (a season). We’re not going to get caught up in where we were. It’s where we are right now.”

Portland currently has 67 points, trailing the Bridgeport Sound Tigers by five points for the fourth-place in the American Hockey League’s Atlantic Division, and cling to the crossover playoff berth by a mere point over the Hartford Wolf Pack. The St. John’s IceCaps (two points) and Rochester Americans (four points) are also in the hunt of the final Eastern Conference playoff berth.

“Moral victories are tough to come by right now,” said Allen. “The way we’re approaching this now is we control our own destiny from here on out. We win, we get in. We don’t, we won’t. It’s that simple. We’re going to find out a lot about guys every single day and, more importantly, every single game.”

Trailing by a goal, Graves tied the game, 3-3, with a booming slap shot from the point through a screen past Pirates’ goaltender Mike McKenna.

Less than five minutes later, Graves struck again by snapping a wrist shot from the left circle, beating McKenna over the glove shortside as Hartford grabbed a 4-3 lead.

Allen took a timeout with 1:49 left in regulation, pulling McKenna, who finished with 25 saves, for an extra forward, but couldn’t find the equalizer as Portland suffered its season-high sixth straight loss (0-4-1-1).

“On that third goal, we can’t be screening our goalie standing off the puck,” said Allen. “The fourth goal we needed to strike quicker. I like Mike McKenna nine times out of ten making that save. It is what it is. He played a solid game for us.”

“You have to defend. You go into the third period with a lead like last night. You have to be able to close teams out. We’re going to find out a lot about individuals and the makeup of our team.”

It would have been easy for the Pirates to pack it in after the Wolf Pack’s first shot of the game beat McKenna for a 1-0 lead. Just 2:33 into the first period, Luke Adam threw a puck toward the goal where it was tipped by Chris Summers for his first goal of the season.

Portland had suffered a tough shootout loss to the Springfield Falcons and didn’t depart until 11:00 pm. Combined with the time change to Eastern Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time, the Pirates didn’t arrive in Portland until 3:00 am Sunday morning. The Wolf Pack were already in Portland awaiting the Pirates after playing a 3:00 pm game at home due to the city’s St. Patrick Day festivities.

“We were determined that daylight saving time, and getting in at three o’clock in the morning was not going to be an excuse. We certainly were not going to use it as an excuse right now.”

The Pirates continued to push back, eventually getting the equalizer as Matt MacKenzie tallied his first AHL goal of the season with a shot from the top of the right circle, picking the upper corner of the net at 11:56 of the first period. Portland outshot the Wolf Pack 11-2 in the period prior to Corbin Knight’s penalty for hooking with two minutes remaining in the period. Final shots for the first period ended, 11-5, in favor of Portland.

“There were was certainly momentum swings,” said Allen.

Luke Adam added a goal to his earlier assist on Summers’ goal with a snap shot from the slot at the 6:02 mark of the second period, putting Hartford back out front, 2-1.

Hartford had outshot Portland 9-2 through the first half of the second period, but over the final 10 minutes, the Pirates gained the momentum, outshooting the Wolf Pack 14-4, and taking a 25-18 lead in shots into the locker room after 40 minutes of play.

Chase Balisy, back in the lineup after missing two games due to injury, drove to the net, putting the initial shot on goal, but Rob Flick was able to pick up the loose puck and flip a backhander by Marcus Hellberg at 11:45 of the second period to even the game, 2-2.

Only a short time later, the Pirates went to the power play for the first time in the game later when Summer was called for holding.

Just 22 seconds into the power play, MacKenzie Weegar drilled a slap shot from the left point through a screen past Hellberg as the Pirates led for the first time in the game, 3-2.

Hellberg made 29 saves on 32 shots.

“We’re digging in right now,” said Weegar. “Something things aren’t going our way. We’re going to find a way to get out of this.”

NOTES: The Florida Panthers assigned rookie forward Kyle Rau to the Pirates prior to the game on Sunday. Rau was recalled on Feb. 19 and appeared in nine games with the Panthers, going scoreless. Prior to his recall, Rau played 48 games with the Pirates, scoring a team-leading 17 goals, and 10 assists for 27 points.

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