PROVIDENCE — One game into the affiliation between the Portland Pirates and Florida Panthers, we know this about the Pirates:

They’re not afraid to take chances.

They’re resilient.

Their special teams need work.

The Pirates opened their 23rd AHL season by giving up the quickest goal in franchise history on the way to a 6-4 loss to the Providence Bruins Sunday afternoon before an announced crowd of 5,704 at Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

Frank Vatrano scored the first of his four goals only seven seconds after the puck dropped to put Providence in control. The Pirates rallied with three goals in a dominant second period to tie the score before the Bruins salted away the game on a power-play goal with 1:41 remaining after Portland had pulled to within one.

“The second period, that’s our game,” said Pirates Coach Tom Rowe, whose team enjoyed a whopping 21-4 shots advantage in the middle frame. “That’s the hockey we’re capable of.”

Providence, which opened its season Friday night with a 2-1 overtime loss against visiting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, converted all three of its power plays Sunday. The Pirates actually held a 4-3 scoring edge at even strength but went 0 for 2 with a man advantage.

“Obviously, our special teams (play) wasn’t very good,” Rowe said. “We got a good look at what we need to work on this week in practice.”

The Pirates host Hershey Saturday night and Sunday afternoon in Portland to open their home schedule.

Kyle Rau, Sena Acolatse, Rob Schremp and Rob Flick each notched a goal and an assist for the Pirates. Shane Harper and Wayne Simpson each had two assists.

The prettiest feed came courtesy of Schremp, a former Edmonton first-round pick who spent the past four years in Europe. Harper drove deep along the left boards and centered to Schremp, who spun and sent a blind backhand pass to Flick 15 feet in front of the right post with no chance for Providence goalie Zane McIntyre to recover.

“Schrempie’s a special player,” said Flick, who played two years in Providence before signing with Florida and coming to Portland. “Not everybody makes those plays. When you’re out there playing with a guy like Schremp, you’ve got to expect a pass at all times and just be ready.”

Flick’s goal cut the Providence lead to 5-4 with eight minutes remaining and seemed to set the stage for a dramatic finish. The air went out of Portland’s balloon, however, when Acolatse was sent off for tripping Brandon DeFazio with 2:21 left. The Bruins needed only 40 seconds to cash in their third power play.

“I tried to make a play on the puck,” said Acolatse, a fifth-year veteran of the AHL who played in Worcester last season. “I had one hand on my stick and (DeFazio) found a way to fall over it and the next thing you know I’m sitting in the box. I don’t now if there’s much more I could have done there. It was just one of those fluky, unfortunate plays.”

A little rust was expected from the Pirates, whose only AHL exhibition was a week and a half ago, against Providence.

The Bruins certainly seemed better prepared at the start, when Austin Czarnik won the opening face off and wings Alexander Khokhlachev and Vatrano raced in for a two-man breakaway on goalie Mike McKenna.

With Khokhlachev bearing down on the right post, McKenna was unable to cover Vatrano on the left side, and the quick pass and Vatrano tap-in put Providence ahead 1-0 only seven seconds into Portland’s season.

“That goal against is on me,” Rowe said. “I wanted to run a certain play off the face-off and they picked it up at the last second and it kind of backfired.”

Rowe had flipped positions on the face-off, with his two defensemen along with the red line.

“We put two forwards back to slash through the middle,” he said. “I would say it didn’t exactly work our way.”

By four seconds, it was the fastest goal ever allowed by the Pirates. They trailed 2-0 after a period in which they were outshot 11-4.

Rau and Acolatse (both on rebounds) scored to tie it at 2 and Schremp found an opening from the right dot to make it 3-all late in the second.

The Pirates wound up with a 31-24 edge in shots on goal. McKenna finished with 18 saves.

“It wasn’t fun letting them score six goals,” Rowe said. “But we know we’ve got a good team. We’ll work hard this week in practice and get ready for Hershey and away we go.”