PORTLAND – Dave Leggio was cruising. The Portland Pirates were cruising Thursday night. Up 3-0 and the first period wasn’t even done.

In the Pirates’ net, Leggio told himself not to relax in this, his first AHL playoff game.

Never mind that he had a three-goal cushion. Or that this was his chance to again step out of the shadow cast by Jhonas Enroth, the Pirates’ No. 1 goalie before he was called up to Buffalo in early March.

So intent was Leggio, he didn’t see the speed bump when it came in the second period. A shot that was saved but not stopped as it hit the leg of Connecticut defenseman Blake Parlett and ever-so-slowly slid across the crease.

“I thought I had the post covered,” said Leggio.

He’s a Clarkson University kid. A 26-year-old still feeling his way as he climbs the rungs of pro hockey.

If Enroth was back in Portland, Leggio probably would have been sitting where backup John Muse was sitting Thursday night, between the penalty boxes on the other side of the ice.

Leggio has promise. He had all four of the Pirates’ shutouts in the regular season.

He hit the second speed bump with about six minutes left in the game. Evgeny Grachev’s blistering shot hit the net under the crossbar so hard, it sent Leggio’s water bottle high in the air.

“It was a great shot,” said Leggio.

The Pirates’ lead was down to one. This is when the mettle of a goalie and the defensemen in front of him is tested. Above Leggio, the clock seemed to count down more slowly. “It always goes more slowly,” he said, the hint of a grin playing on his mouth. The good ones know how to slow the game to react to speeding pucks.

Ninety seconds. Forty-five seconds. Sixteen seconds. Connecticut kept coming until Derek Whitmore got to the puck and flicked it out of the Pirates’ end. Connecticut never got another shot.

The Pirates won, 3-2. It no longer mattered they had a three-goal lead. Coach Kevin Dineen liked the first-period burst of scoring. He liked the third-period defense.

“You grind and do the little things to win,” he said. “That’s playoff hockey. It’s a marathon.”

Dineen spoke in front of the cameras and tape recorders. The goal scorers took their turn. Leggio was last. He’s not a big guy. He doesn’t talk big, either. Goalies tend to be that way. You’re as good as your last save, your last win.

Yes, he approached this start to the playoffs as a big game. But then, all games are big, he said. Dineen has preached that and Leggio paid attention. Take nothing lightly because that’s a weakness an opponent will exploit.

Leggio was so focused, he didn’t see the swaths of empty seats when he took the ice. Again, Pirates fans stayed away from the start of a playoff series. Maybe a bit more than a quarter of the seats in the Cumberland County Civic Center contained live bodies.

Leggio’s teammates may talk about how large crowds in the regular season can energize them. Leggio doesn’t see beyond the glass that surrounds the ice. The Thunder Stix in the hands of the few sounded more like sleet hitting metal gutters.

Until Luke Adam, Corey Tropp and Colin Stuart scored and Leggio heard the few that sounded like three times their number. He’s 1 of 1 in AHL playoff games. He was the winning goalie in the first playoff game of a second season that might stretch into June.

He’s not unlike his teammates or any other pro hockey player, measuring his satisfaction in small doses. He’s learning.

Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at:

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