The Toronto Marlies visited Portland for the first time in 10 years and wasted little time in showing why they sport the best record, by far, in the American Hockey League.
Scoring 43 seconds apart early in the first period, the Marlies jumped all over the Pirates and skated to a 9-2 victory before a crowd of 2,639 Friday night at Cross Insurance Arena.
SATURDAY'S GAME
WHO: Pirates at Springfield Falcons
WHEN: 7 p.m.
Tobias Lindberg scored twice and seven other players scored once as the Marlies got three goals more than any other Pirates opponent this season. It was 3-1 after one period and 8-2 after two.
“Our whole team was feeling it (Friday),” said Toronto Coach Sheldon Keefe, whose team snapped a season-long three-game losing streak, “and when our whole team is feeling it we’re fun to watch and we’re hard to play against.”
Scott Allen, coach of the Pirates, called it the most embarrassing loss in his two decades of coaching professional hockey.
“You don’t give up nine goals in your building, in front of your fans,” he said. “I want to publicly apologize to the fans because that’s not good enough.”
After the quick goals from Mark Arcobello and Lindberg near the five-minute mark, Colin Smith made it 3-0 in the 11th minute and Allen pulled goalie Mike McKenna after seven saves in favor of Sam Brittain.
The Pirates responded with 10 solid minutes that included a Wade Megan goal on assists from Wayne Simpson and Cameron Gaunce.
The rest of the game belonged to Toronto, whose 44 victories are 10 more than any other AHL team had earned entering the weekend. Arcobello racked up three assists and the Marlies scored as many goals in the second period (five) as the Pirates managed shots on net.
Brittain finished with 22 saves and Toronto goalie Antoine Bibeau, who played for the Lewiston Maineiacs as a 16-year-old, made 23.
Greg McKegg scored Portland’s second goal on a deflection of a Shane Harper shot with Gaunce picking up a second assist.
“The only thing positive for me was when the final buzzer rang and the game was over,” Allen said. “I’m not one of those coaches who throws the tape away and moves on to the next game. It’ll probably take a couple more months, maybe a year off my life by watching this one again, because of the stress, but I am going to do it. Because we can’t just move by it that easily.”
Former Pirates T.J. Brennan (two assists) and Andrew Campbell (one assist) got in on the act. Campbell played here last winter in the Arizona system. Brennan played here from 2009-11 with the Sabres organization.
“Portland means a lot to me,” said Brennan, who played with the NHL Maple Leafs Wednesday night in Toronto before meeting the Marlies in Maine. “It’s a pretty good milestone, where I started professional hockey and learned a lot, not only from the city but the players and the coaches who were here. I love coming back.”
The loss was the fourth in a row for the Pirates, who next play at Springfield Saturday night before returning to Portland for a Sunday matinee against Hartford.
“As disappointed as I am in our team, that’s a heck of a hockey team,” Allen said of the Marlies. “We helped them look better, but I’m not going to take away anything from that team. I don’t even know if it was men against boys. It was almost like we were non-existent a few times.”
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