WORCESTER, Mass. — The Worcester Sharks got a power-play goal from Travis Oleksuk and a short-handed goal from Yanni Gourde on the way to a 4-3 win over the Portland Pirates on Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center.

The Pirates, playing with only 17 skaters because of injuries and illness, fell behind 2-0 less than nine minutes into the game. Lane Scheidl scored his first goal of the season at 5:18, and Oleksuk converted on a power play at 8:21 after a holding penalty against Portland’s Brandon Gormley.

Portland cut the deficit to 2-1 late in the first period on defenseman Mathieu Brodeur’s first goal of the season, assisted by Jordan Martinook and Brett Hextall, who extended his points streak to seven games.

After Gourde restored Worcester’s two-goal advantage with his short-handed goal early in the second period, Martinook made it 3-2 early in the third period when he tipped Randy Jones’ shot past Worcester goalie Harri Sateri, who relieved injured starter Troy+ Grosenick.

But the Sharks answered again, as Taylor Doherty beat Pirates goaltender Mark Visentin at 8:11 while both teams were skating a man short.

Portland scored on another deflection with 9:04 remaining when Chris Brown redirected a shot by Daine Todd. But the Pirates were unable to complete the comeback.

Visentin finished with 38 saves, dropping his record to 9-12-3. The Pirates fell behind Worcester into last place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division with a 15-14-1-5 record.


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