The once red-hot Portland Pirates dropped back-to-back games to the Hartford Wolf Pack and Providence Bruins this weekend. The Pirates have now lost three in a row and are just 5-5 over their last ten games.
Wolf Pack 5, Pirates 0
Magnus Hellberg made 35 saves and Hartford got goals from five different players to shutout visiting Portland 5-0. Nicklas Jensen notched the only goal of the first period before the Wolf Pack poured it on with three goals in the second. The middle frame scorers were Ryan Graves, Ryan Bourque and Tommy Hughes. Adam Tambellini bagged the game’s final goal with an empty-netter with 6:35 left in the third. Mike McKenna took the loss, finishing with 21 saves on 25 shots before being pulled for Sam Brittain, who stopped all 14 of the shots he faced in relief. Greg McKegg, Jonathan Racine and MacKenzie Weegar all ended up with a -4 rating.
Bruins 3, Pirates 1
The Pirates returned home to face the P-Bruins on Saturday and fell by a 3-1 count. Defenseman Chris Casto put Providence on top with the first period’s only goal at 14:10. The Bruins added to their lead when Alexander Khokhlachev scored 31 seconds into the second stanza. Greg McKegg (8) pulled on back for the home team when he lit the lamp with 55 seconds left in the period, with the assists going to Connor Brickley and Josh Brown. The point was Brown’s first in the AHL. Zane McIntyre, who finished with 35 stops, would keep Portland off the board the rest of the way and Frank Vatrano iced the game with an empty-net goal with 34 seconds left in regulation, sending the Pirates to a third straight defeat. Mike McKenna (36 saves) took the loss to fall to 21-10-1 on the season.
Portland (26-18-1) is off until Friday when they open a seven-game road trip in Lehigh Valley against the Phantoms.