PORTLAND – This had “trap game” written all over it.

After the Portland Pirates pounded the St. John’s Maple Leafs Friday night, 5-0, the two teams met again Sunday.

The Leafs allowed the most goals in the American Hockey League while going 1-5 in its last six games. The Pirates were heating up with two straight wins this weekend.

While playing its third game in as many days, the Pirates struggled against the rested Maple Leafs and watched a gritty effort slip away with a third-period goal in a 1-0 loss.

“I don’t think there’s any question we were a little leg weary,” said Pirates coach Tim Army. “Two tough games Friday and Saturday and we bused down to Worcester for an emotional divisional game and then we bused back. They had the opportunity to rest themselves and stay put. That’s going to factor into the game.”

Pirate goaltender Maxime Ouellet was stellar as he made 33 saves, while St. John outshot the Pirates 34-18.

“I’m just wondering why he’s not in the NHL,” said St. John coach Doug Shedden, whose team was blanked by Ouellet Friday. “Nobody’s scoring goals on him. His save percentage is like a 1,000 percent. He looks like he’s for real.”

Ouellet kept Portland within reach for much of the game until Robb Palahnuk scored with 11:32 left. A bad clear was barely kept in at the blue line by Leaf forward Mike Brown. He fed Nathan Barrett in the high slot, who dished it over to Palahnuk on the left wing for the one-timer.

“That was a pretty good shot,” said Ouellet. “He shot pretty fast, and I didn’t expect him to shoot it that fast. I think I can make that save better. So it’s a little frustrating because we were in it all night long and could have had a perfect weekend.”

Portland tried to produce the equalizer and pulled Ouellet in the final minutes but couldn’t muster much to break up Sebastien Centomo’s shutout.

“We worked hard, but we couldn’t get a lot going,” said Army. “We were a step behind during the game. Our effort was there. We played pretty solid defensively, but we couldn’t keep any sustained pressure.”

The Pirates were outshot 9-1 to start the game and had to kill off two penalty kills. Portland got a two-man advantage late in the period that lasted 48 seconds, but the Pirates came up empty.

“A night like this is when you want to see your power play cash in,” said Army, whose team is 2-for-36 on the power play this year. “Probably since the last game against Hartford in Hartford, we were pretty ineffective on the power play. When you’ve got a five-on-three for 48 seconds you’ve got to get at least a shot on goal. You’ve got to score. You’ve got to cash in.”

The second period was much the same. St. John’s outshot Portland 7-2 through the first 10 minutes, 12-4 overall.

Ouellet continued to kick aside all the Maple Leaf offerings, including a Palahnuk shot off a two-on-one with 51 seconds left.

“It’s my job to come up big when I have to,” said Ouellet. “They had some good chances at the beginning of the game and I felt good. We tried and worked pretty hard and were in it all night long. AT least we were where we had a chance to win.”

PIRATES NOTES: St. John’s has added forward Don Parsons, brother of Pirate Brad Parsons. Sunday was their first game against each other. Defenseman Nolan Yonkman, who injured his left knee Friday will have an MRI Monday to determine the extent of his injury. Yonkman played just 24 games last year because of injury.

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