PROVIDENCE, R.I. — One common thread that runs through each of the Portland Pirates’ first four games is they have played from behind.

It continued Sunday afternoon as the Pirates fell behind by two goals in the first period and lost 3-1 to the Providence Bruins.

“We knew we were going to have to do work,” Portland Coach Ray Edwards. “It’s just that you’d like to mix in a few wins to get feeling better about your team. But for the most part over the first three games we worked pretty hard.

“Tonight was one of those games where I felt like we had too many passengers and too many guys that didn’t think of team first. And, obviously, we took too many penalties. You can’t win like that. That’s not the recipe for success.”

The Bruins (2-2-1) were 0 for 16 on the power play in their first four games. Sunday, they scored a pair of power-play goals in seven opportunities (the second, by Seth Griffith, went into an empty net).

“We’re struggling to score goals, obviously,” said Edwards, whose team has seven goals in four games. “But tonight’s game in itself was a lack of discipline, a lack of structure, a lack of effort. That’s disheartening. We’re going to have to figure that out.

“We took probably five undisciplined penalties, so that’s stuff we’ve got to figure out as a coaching staff. We’ve got to hold people accountable.”

Providence had a 15-8 advantage in shots in the first period, and that was an accurate reflection of how dominant the Bruins were.

A Portland mistake enabled Providence to take a 1-0 lead. Anthony Camara stole the puck in the neutral zone and eventually unloaded a shot that Louis Domingue blocked with his right pad. But Tyler Randell buried the rebound at 6:15.

Providence was on a power play late in the period when Craig Cunningham slid the puck left to right in front of the crease and Alexander Khokhlachev deflected it inside the right post at 18:34 for a 2-0 lead.

A highlight defensive play by Portland center Tyler Gaudet preceded the second period’s lone goal. With Domingue out of position, Gaudet blocked a shot by David Pasternak to prevent a goal and slid the puck to his goalie.

Then, at 6:42, Alex Bolduc drilled a shot that bounced off Providence goalie Jeremy Smith (28 saves) and flipped over the line.

Portland’s lack of discipline was on display in two specific situations. With 59 seconds left in the first period, both teams took a minor penalty. After the period ended, however, Bolduc was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, which gave Providence a power play early in the second. In the third period, the teams were again assessed matching minors at 14:47. Seconds later, Justin Hodgman was whistled for holding.

Domingue finished with 38 saves.

“Our goaltending has been excellent,” Edwards said, referring to Domingue and Mike McKenna. “Our goaltending is not the issue. It’s our lack of playing as a group and our lack of work at times, so we’ll have to figure it out.”

Copy the Story Link