SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — There was desperation in the air Saturday night at the MassMutual Center.

Fighting for their playoff lives, the Springfield Falcons made the most of their regular-season home finale, beating the Portland Pirates 5-2 before a crowd of 5,182 to pull into a tie for the eighth and final Eastern Conference berth in the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs.

Springfield and Portland are tied at 81 points, three behind seventh-place Worcester.

“We knew they were going to be a desperate team,” said Pirates Coach Ray Edwards. “We just weren’t able to match the desperation.”

The Falcons have four games remaining, all on the road. The Pirates have seven, with four of them in Portland, including Tuesday’s contest with Worcester.

A Pirates victory Saturday night would have opened a four-point gap on the Falcons and all but eliminated them from the playoff race. Instead, Springfield won for only the second time in seven games and remains in contention.

“We didn’t start well at all,” Edwards said. “Then we start chasing the game and like most teams, we’re not the best at chasing the game.”

Indeed, Springfield scored in the opening minute of both the second and third periods and led 4-0 before the Pirates scored twice in the final seven minutes.

Ryan Craig had a goal and three assists for the Falcons. Derek Docken, T.J. Tynan, Sean Collins and Josh Anderson (open net) also scored for Springfield.

Lucas Lessio and Darian Dziurzynski answered for the Pirates, who were scoreless on five power-play opportunities.

Springfield goalie Scott Munroe had a shutout going until Lessio beat him to a puck to the left of the cage and swooped behind the net for a wrap-around goal before Munroe could scramble back into position.

That made it 4-1 with a little more than six minutes remaining. Shortly thereafter, with the Pirates on a power play, Edwards pulled goalie Mike McKenna in favor of a six-on-four skater advantage.

“If we can somehow make it 4-2, then maybe you have a chance,” Edwards said. “I figured if we get possession, get (McKenna) out, maybe we can get some (offensive)-zone time and try to get one early, then it’s a two-goal game. That’s the mindset there.”

Instead, Munroe stifled the Pirates and Anderson finished off a two-on-one break with an open-net goal from the blue line to make it 5-1.

Dziurzynski added a hustle goal with just under three minutes left by tapping in an Eric Selleck rebound while being hauled down to the left of the net.

The goal was Dziurzynski’s 15th of the season.

McKenna finished with 17 saves for the Pirates, who have won only twice in eight games following a seven-game win streak.

NOTES: The Pirates and Springfield met for the first time since March 1 in Portland, a 2-1 Pirates victory that included Chris Summers being traded by the parent NHL Coyotes mid-game and Evan Oberg being lost for the season with a lower-body injury. … Approximately 60 Pirates supporters clad in red made the trip down from Maine on a fan bus. … The Pirates outshot Springfield, 34-22.