PORTLAND – There is a reason the Portland Pirates are still scurrying for playoff positioning in the final week of the regular season.

All season long the Pirates have mixed good results with the bad, failing to establish a winning formula. This weekend was a prime example of their up-and-down season.

After a strong 3-0 win over Worcester Saturday, the Pirates didn’t come to life until the final period Sunday afternoon. Though Portland managed to tie the game late in regulation, Saint John kept its slim playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 overtime win.

“It’s what we’ve talked about the last couple of games, a lack of emotion,” said Pirates forward Peter Ferraro. “We just lacked a little of that emotion that we needed. Obviously, it was a prime example the first two periods.”

As quickly as Portland surged into sixth place in the Eastern Conference with Saturday’s win, the Pirates dropped to ninth overall Sunday as Hartford, Worcester and Manitoba all won. Portland now has 82 points and is tied with the Moose, but dropped to ninth because Manitoba has more wins. The top six teams have a bye in the qualifying round, while the team seeded seven through 10 play a best-of-three series.

“I was a little disappointed with our energy level,” said Pirates coach Tim Army. “I’m a little perplexed by it. I’m trying to think, what do we need to do to be energized?”

Portland has won just once in its last nine games (1-4-4).

Portland’s power play struggles didn’t help. The Pirates went 0-for-7 and have scored six power play goals in 54 chances over the last 13 games.

“Our power play was poor through the whole game,” said Army. “We’re not moving the puck. We’ve got one puck out there and everybody wants it. Nobody wants to move it.”

Portland bounced back in the third period. After Peter Ferraro scored late in regulation, the Pirates sought the winner in overtime. They had plenty of chances in the extra session, but the Flames happened to have a person in the right spot for a rebound. Chuck Kobasew deposited a rebound of a Robert Dome shot with 1:24.

“In the third, we played with more energy,” said Army. “We played with more desperation, and we were able to come back and tie it. We had some good chances in overtime. We made a great push, and they sort of countered that.”

The highlight of the opening period was a skirmish between Pirates enforcer Mel Angelstad and Flames’ Darcy Verot, who was the player that put two Pirates out of the lineup with concussions back in December. ONe of them was defenseman Matt Libby, who returned to action two weeks ago.

Angelstad and Verot traded slashes and punches at center ice midway through the period. Angledstad got his share of shots in, all in front of Libby, who was on the ice at the time.

Verot stirred things up in the second, going after Ferraro during a scrap in front of Pirates goaltender Rastislav Stana. That sparked a brief fracas that also involved Portland’s Todd Rohloff and the Flames’ Ryan Christie in a fight. Verot ended up with a game misconduct, among 19 minutes in penalties. He raised his arms while being escorted off the ice to a chorus of jeers from the crowd of 3,833.

Saint John, however, also got a goal in the second when Kobasew popped in a rebound 3:51 into the period. Portland’s defense was caught short and over-pursued, leaving Kobasew alone in front.

“We had a bad line change, and it was a chain of events because of that bad line change,” said Army.

Portland mustered just six shots in the second, four through the first 15 minutes.

“I was pleased with the first period,” said Army. “They had nine shots. They had maybe a chance or two tops, but the second period, we got sloppy. We just weren’t as diligent.”

Portland came on strong in the final period though. The Pirates outshot the Flames 11-7 and got the equalizer with 5:24 left in regulation. Libby fired a puck toward the net from the top of the left circle. The puck bounced around and found Ferraro alone at the left post.

“The shot came through and the rebound came back,” said Ferraro. “I had to kind of reach back behind me and force it in. It’s not too often you get the backdoor play where you have time to put it in.”

PIRATES NOTES: Defenseman Jake Cutta left the game late in the third with a strained groin. Forward Matt Pettinger was out with a chest contusion. Both are expected to be ready for the final four games this week. Defenseman Ryan Van Buskirk is expected to join the roster this week as well.