The Flames have had Portland’s number all season, and Sunday was no different.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

PORTLAND — By the third period, it was a must win scenario for the Portland Pirates.

All that was at stake Sunday in their final regular season game was whether the Pirates finished seventh or eighth in the Eastern Conference.

The reward was minimal, but with Hartford’s overtime loss to Bridgeport, the Pirates knew a win would bump them up.

Portland pulled out all the stops in the final period but came up a goal short in a 3-2 loss to Saint John in front of 5,029 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

“We knew going into the third period that we had to win,” said Pirates coach Tim Army. “There were some pucks that we couldn’t get. We couldn’t get a hold on some of the pucks, and there were some quick whistles. And (Saint John goaltender J.F. Damphousse) came up with some good stops and he battled hard in traffic. There were a couple of scrambles late, and I think the puck was loose and he (referee Chris Lee) blew the whistle.”

Hartford finishes seventh overall with 86 points. Portland finished one shy with 85. Portland needed a win because the Wolf Pack would have won the tiebreaker with a 1-0-1 record against the Pirates. Portland now opens the postseason Thursday against Manitoba in a best-of-three qualifying series.

“It will be a hard-nosed series,” said Pirates defenseman Todd Rohloff. “I think they have a very similar style to us. They have some solid goaltending. When we played them we lost and tied.”

With the eighth seed, Portland would advance to face top-seeded Hamilton in the first round if it beat Manitoba. Finishing seventh would have matched them with Springfield in the qualifying round and second-seeded Providence in the subsequent best-of-five conference quarterfinal.

The Pirates, however, couldn’t shake an already eliminated Flames team that has frustrated Portland all year. Though the Pirates staked an early lead, Saint John hung in there.

“I was a little bit more frustrated that at 1-0 we didn’t hold the lead for long,” said Army. “That’s the one thing I thought we needed to do — play with a lead and make them open up a little. Then it was 1-1.”

Portland took the 1-0 lead at 8:41 of the first. A two-on-one rush led to a Colin Forbes shot that was stopped by Damphousse. The rebound dropped in front of him to his left. Before he could get to it, Graham Mink deposited it into the net for his 22nd.

Saint John got that back with 9:27 left in the period. Jason Morgan fired a wrister from between the circles.

In the second, moments after a Portland goal was waived off, because of a quick whistle, the Flames made it 2-1. Ouellet mishandled a rebound and Robert Dome roofed it for a power play goal with 10:40 left in the period.

Portland tied it just 24 seconds later when Kevin Spiewak was hauled down on a breakaway. The rookie, playing just his third game as a Pirate, was awarded a penalty shot. He made a nifty move and tucked a backhander past Damphousse at the right post.

“I hadn’t taken a penalty shot in like 10 years,” said Spiewak, who also had an assist on Portland’s first goal. “I didn’t want to do that move exactly. It’s just a habit.”

Saint John, however, got the game-winner at 6:42 of the third when Matt Lombardi stole the puck and put it under the crossbar.

“It was kind of an unlucky third goal,” said Army. “It went through Dwayne Zinger and he was in behind him. It wasn’t that we didn’t’ have numbers back. Everything was covered. It was kind of a funny bounce and it was 3-2.”

Portland put up 21 shots in the final period. Mink set up Chris Ferraro at the left post for a nice bid midway through the period. On a late power play, Ferraro put the rebound of a Mark Murphy shot wide with 2:30 left. Colin Forbes was just inches away from tucking in the rebound of a Mink shot when play was stopped with 16 seconds.

PIRATES NOTES: Defenseman Nolan Yonkman was given medical clearance to play last week and returned to the lineup Sunday after being out with an eye injury. Saint John enforcer, Darcy Verot, who put Pirate defenders Matt Libby and Nathan Forster out of the lineup with viscious elbows in December, was a no show in the regular season finale.