GLENS FALLS, N.Y. – Ethan Werek will have plenty of stories to tell about his first pro goal.

Werek scored a short-handed goal with 19.2 seconds left Friday night to give the Portland Pirates a 2-1 win over the Adirondack Phantoms before 2,792 at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

On a power play, Dean Arsene knocked the puck loose, Matt Watkins brought it up the right side and passed across ice to Werek, who beat Michael Leighton to snap the Pirates’ three-game losing streak.

“It’s been a while since I scored and it was playing on my mind,” Werek said. “The feeling is amazing. It’s been a while.”

While Werek clinched the win, goaltender Curtis McElhinney put the Pirates in position. McElhinney, who gave up five goals in his last two games, made 23 saves, many of them out of the ordinary.

“He’s been really good for us,” Pirates Coach Ray Edwards said. “He’s tracking the puck really well. We needed a big performance from him.”

Werek, who has three assists in 16 games, credited Arsene with making “a great block,” and said Watkins “made a great play to get it across to me.”

In his mind, Werek was out there to make sure the Phantoms, who were 0 of 4 on power plays, didn’t get a late goal.

“I was just called upon to kill a power play,” he said, adding that when Arsene got the puck loose, “I raced up the ice as hard as I could.”

While Edwards was happy to get the win, which puts Portland at 11-10-2 with 24 points, he wasn’t completely happy.

“The first two periods we dictated the game,” he said. “Then we took our foot off the gas. We gave them every opportunity to win the game. It’s nice we got it but we have to clean that up.”

The Pirates had more than their share of opportunities in the opening period, holding a 12-3 edge in shots on goal at one point and finishing the period with an 18-9 advantage. Portland didn’t convert on the only power play of the period and missed three chances right in front.

McElhinney did his part, making nine first-period saves. Leighton continued his hot streak with the 18 saves. At that point he had stopped 104 of 109 shots in 10 periods.

The Pirates continued to hold the edge on offense and finally got a shot past Leighton when Brock Trotter got his fourth of the year, deflecting in a shot by Chris Summers. Trotter was camping at the post to Leighton’s left and knocked it home.

The Pirates outshot the Phantoms 12-9 in the period and effectively killed a power play after a two-minute hooking penalty on Mike Duncan.

The third period started quickly with Cullen Eddy making it 1-1 after getting the puck from Shane Harper just 47 seconds into the period.

The Pirates needed to kill another penalty, Duncan’s second of the game, which came with 10:44 remaining. They killed a third, a hooking penalty on Trotter with 6:37 left in the game.

NOTE: The Phoenix Coyotes returned defenseman Chris Summers to the Pirates. Summers, who has one assist in 14 games with the Pirates this season, appeared in two games with the Coyotes, averaging nearly 11 minutes of ice time.

 

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