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Pirates blast Falcons 5-1 to climb back to .500

The Portland Pirates are heating up again. The Florida Panthers AHL affiliate routed the visiting Springfield Falcons 5-1 for its third win in the last four games.

Rocco Grimaldi opened the scoring, from Rob Schremp and Garrett Wilson, with his second of the season at 4:51 of the first period.

Springfield countered with a power-play goal from Alex Grant at the 9:46 mark. Grant’s tally was set up by Jon DiSalvatore and Craig Cunningham and came with Jonathan Racine in the sin bin for holding.

Corban Knight, playing in his first game of the year, scored at 14:44 to put Portland back on top. Knight’s first was assisted by John McFarland and Brett Olson.

The Pirates would score twice on Falcons netminder Louis Domingue in the middle frame to put the game away.

Mike Matheson lit the lamp at 11:57, from Shane Harper and Grimaldi, and Rocco would bag his second of the night unassisted at 15:29.

Schremp, who leads the club with 18 points, notched a third period power-play goal, with assists going to Grimaldi and Knight, to complete the scoring.

Sam Brittain won his third stright start, making 28 saves. Domingue finished with 24 stops in taking the loss.

Portland (10-10-1) will host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Friday night at Cross Insurance Arena.