The Portland Pirates may be trending in the right direction.
On Wednesday night, rookie defenseman Mike Matheson had a goal and had two assists to lead the Pirates to a 6-3 win against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in front of 3,266 at Cross Insurance Arena.
It was the first time the Pirates had back-to-back wins in more than five weeks.
On Sunday afternoon, the Pirates rolled to a 4-2 win at Lehigh Valley to snap an eight-game losing streak. Despite that losing streak, the Pirates remain very much in the race for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s still one game at a time, one day at a time,” Portland Coach Scott Allen said. “It’s nice we were able to score some goals tonight, and it feels good.”
The Pirates moved into a 4-1 lead during the second period on the strength of solid special-teams play.
Portland killed off a seven-minute penalty after defenseman Sena Acolatse received two minutes for high sticking and five minutes for boarding. The Pirates limited the Sound Tigers to just four shots on goal while short-handed.
Then the Pirates found the net themselves.
Wade Megan opened the scoring five minutes into the penalty kill by putting in his league-high fifth short-handed goal on a shot from the slot after Connor Brickley sent a centering pass from behind the goal.
“The big turning point of the game was obviously the seven-minute penalty kill,” Allen said. “We came out of it scoring a goal and kept them off the board.”
Megan has 10 goals this season and tied the franchise record for short-handed goals in a season set by Trent Whitfield during the 2002-03 season.
“To be able to kill it, and not only kill it but get our own goal is big for momentum within the game,” said Matheson, a first-round draft in 2012 by NHL parent Florida who played three seasons at Boston College.
About a minute after Bridgeport’s power play ended, Justin Valve beat Portland goalie Mike McKenna with a one-on-one move from the left side of the net to tie the score with his seventh goal of the season.
The Pirates scored three power-play goals in less than seven minutes to take a 4-1 lead.
Wayne Simpson finished off a rush down the right side with his sixth goal on a shot from inside the circle. Rob Schremp scored his team-high 19th goal from above the right hash mark while the Pirates skated with a two-man advantage. With less than two minutes left in the period, Matheson skated in from the left and slid a backhander under goalie Stephon Williams for his seventh goal.
“They took some tough penalties, and we were fortunate to capitalize (on them),” Allen said.
Less than two minutes into the third period, Mike Halmo made it 4-2 finishing off a three-on-two break with his 18th goal.
With less than three minutes left, Brett Olson and Shane Harper sandwiched short-handed goals around a power-play goal by the Sound Tigers’ Connor Jones to close the scoring.
NOTES: The Pirates signed Robert Morris University forward Zac Lynch and Penn State forward Eric Scheid to amateur tryouts. Neither played Wednesday night.
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