AHL: Pirates rally for win

Wirtanen lifts Portland in overtime

PORTLAND -- Dead in the water with just minutes remaining in what was shaping up to be another disappointing effort, the Pirates found a way to create a little more home ice magic.

Portland scored twice in the final 11 minutes of regulation to force overtime on Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center, and then the Pirates got Petteri Wirtanen's goal with under a minute to play in overtime -- lifting the home team to a 4-3 win over the Springfield Falcons.

The goal was Wirtanen's 3rd of the season; the win was the team's 10th in 14 games at home.

"We were down early and we never stopped," said defenseman Brian Salcido, who had a goal and two assists. "We were down yesterday a few goals, too, and I think everybody started sulking a little bit. Tonight, we kept pushing and we realized as a team we needed to keep doing what we were good at."

Part of the reason the Pirates found themselves in a 3-1 hole was their penalty-box procession. After being whistled for 7 minor penalties through the first 2 periods -- leading to power-play goals for Falcons Marc Pouliot and Mathiew Roy -- Portland stayed out of the box completely in the third, save for a Brandon Segal fighting major.

That allowed Salcido to thread a slapper through traffic at the 9:15 mark to pull the Pirates to within 3-2, and then Andrew Ebbett scored his 8th goal of the season with 2:27 remaining in regulation to draw the home team even.

"Coach (Kevin Dineen) came in and called us out a little bit," Ebbett said of the discussion in the Pirates dressing room during the second intermission.

Portland goaltender Mike McKenna made 23 saves, one of them on Liam Reddox's penalty shot at 12:44 of the third. Reddox, who opened the night's scoring early in the first period, swooped right and then left, and his shot along the ice was thwarted by McKenna's pad.

McKenna also had a hand on the overtime goal, which came with the teams skating three aside. He tried to freeze the puck at the edge of his crease when things got scrambly around him, but referee David Banfield told him to play it.

Salcido picked it up, fired up the right wing wall to Stephen Dixon, and Dixon centered for a streaking Wirtanen -- who reached out with the blade of his stick to re-direct the puck past Jeff Deslauriers (42 saves).

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