PORTLAND – The Portland Pirates held a sizeable edge in shots for the second straight game Saturday night, and it still wasn’t enough.

Rookie Calie Camper scored his first professional goal with 12 minutes left to lift the Providence Bruins to a 4-3 victory before 6,060 fans at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

“Ninety-nine percent of the game was excellent,” Portland Coach Ray Edwards said. “We made some young mistakes, and unfortunately those three or four young mistakes we made went in our net. It was unfortunate because I thought we really deserved a better fate.”

The Pirates, who outshot Adirondack 35-23 in a 3-0 loss Friday night, held a 40-26 edge over the Bruins.

“I can’t find fault with any of the guys,” Edwards said. “It’s just that you have to play every shift and we took a couple of shifts off, and it cost us.”

The Pirates generated numerous chances despite missing four top forwards.

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One day after Andy Miele was called up by the parent Phoenix Coyotes, an upper-body injury kept rookie Brett Hextall out of the lineup. Portland also is without centers Colin Long, who missed his second game because of illness, and Marc-Antoine Pouliot, who has sat out five games with pneumonia.

After a scoreless first period, each team scored twice in the second.

Stefan Chaput of the Bruins scored two minutes into the period when he finished off a rush down the left side. Four minutes later, while the Pirates skated with a two-man advantage, Garrett Stafford, a defenseman who moved up to play right wing, flipped in a rebound to tie it.

Less than a minute later, as the teams skated four-on-four, Jamie Arniel scored on a breakaway to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead.

With two minutes left in the period, rookie Spencer Bennett, who was a healthy scratch Friday night, swept in for his first pro goal to make it 2-2.

Portland took the lead 40 seconds into the third period when Kyle Chipchura, who began the season with the Coyotes, put in a rebound 20 seconds into a power play.

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Six minutes into the period, Calie Ridderwall tied it by tipping in Craig Cunningham’s centering pass.

Less than two minutes later, Lane MacDermid set up Carter’s winning goal by sending a back-handed centering pass from the bottom of the right circle through the crease.

“We have to be a little bit patient here,” Edwards said. “The younger guys will get better, and we’ll get together. We’ll start to gel here. I know we’ve had three home losses and that’s unacceptable, but we have to be patient.”

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH

 


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