PORTLAND-The Portland Pirates began a five-game homestand by playing one of their best games of the season Friday night.
With 10 different players figuring in the scoring, the Pirates skated to a 4-1 win against the Springfield Falcons before 3,369 people at the Cumberland County Civic Center for their second consecutive win.
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“It was a pretty complete game for us,” Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. “Our power play wasn’t going, but at even strength we were obviously very good tonight.”
After a scoreless first period, Dennis Persson, Maxime Legault and Marc-Andre Gragnani scored goals during the second period to help the Pirates take control of the game.
“I liked that our scoring is spread around,” Dineen said. “We’re getting production from different people. I just like the way we were very assertive tonight. What happened is we were moving our feet to get there to begin contesting when they had the puck and then we did a good job once we got into those battles.”
Defensemen figured prominently in three of Portland’s goals.
“You can say (our defensemen) are thinking offense, but they are involved in all aspects of the play,” Dineen said. “They’re up and involved in the offensive zone, and not getting out of position. Then when they’re getting the puck in the zone, they’re not analyzing as much as we once were. They’re getting the puck and moving it forward. When you’re going in that direction, good things seem to follow.”
Persson, a defenseman in his second full AHL season, scored his third goal of the season less than five minutes into the second period to break a scoreless tie. He beat everyone to the long rebound of Justin Bowers’ shot from the right circle and sent a long slap shot from near the left boards inside the near post .
Legault, a rookie forward, and Gragnani, another defenseman, broke the game open when they scored goals 22 seconds apart to make it 3-0 with less than a minute left in the second period.
Legault stuck a close-in shot inside the right post for his sixth goal after defenseman Alex Biega fed him the puck from the rear boards. While on the move, Gragnani tucked the puck inside the left post for his seventh goal.
Mark Mancari made it 4-0 when he finished off a three-man rush with a shot from the middle of the right circle for his team-high 16th goal of the season 11 seconds into the third period.
With less than seven minutes left, Nikita Filatov, who spent the first two months of the season in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets, ended goalie Jhonas Enroth’s bid for his first shutout of the season when he slid in a shot from the left circle for his second goal.
NOTES: T.J. Brennan, normally a defenseman, was at right wing for a second straight game. He skated a couple of shifts on defense when Tim Conboy left the ice for six minutes after being checked into the boards in the second period. He also recorded an assist on Legault’s goal while playing forward.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
pbetit@pressherald.com
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