PORTLAND – It had just about everything the Portland Pirates could have wanted.

All the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fall in place Saturday night. The Pirates produced a solid defensive game, received superb goaltending and even had success on both sides of the special teams.

It all added up to a complete effort and 3-0 victory over Norfolk in front of 3,173 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

The win was the second straight for the Pirates, who beat the Admirals Thursday night, and their fifth in the last seven games.

“I think this was the best game we’ve played,” said Pirates coach Tim Army. “I thought we were right on our game five-on-five. Our penalty kill was very good against a very good power play team. Our power play cashed in and scored a big goal. We got great goaltending. Everybody contributed. It was really a complete victory.”

Rastislav Stana had a splendid outing, stopping 22 shots for his first shutout of the season. It was a such a strong defensive game for Portland that their checking line of Brad Parsons, Darcy Verot and Roman Tvrdon all scored goals.

“They played so well,” said Army. “They earned it. They played great hockey. They really developed into a good disciplined unit.”

Getting a goal off the power play was a big contribution. Parsons scored early in the second period. Portland previously managed only three power play goals all season.

When Norfolk took a penalty at the end of the first, Army tried to motivate his club by jokingly suggesting the team not take the power play.

“I told Whitter (Trent Whitfield) to go tell (referee) Justin (St. Pierre) that we’re going to decline the penalty, and that we’ll try to score five-on-five,” said Army.

Shortly thereafter, Portland scored on the power play 3:29 into the second. Parsons took an Ivan Ciernik pass at the left circle and wristed it by Norfolk goaltender Craig Anderson.

“Our power play has been struggling,” said Parsons, who has three goals this season after scoring four all last year. “It was good to get a goal there. Even at times the power play didn’t score, we moved it around well. That’s just a good sign for us when our power play is chipping in. We’re great five-on-five, and if our power play is chipping in, we’ll be close to unstoppable.”

The Pirates padded the lead 6:21 into the third. After coming up empty on a power play try, Portland kept up the pressure. Tvrdon finished off a nice passing play for his first of the year. Staked out alone at the right post, Francois Methot fed him a pass to the tape from the left corner.

Portland sealed it with 6:56 when Verot scored on a breakaway. Following a Stana save, Jake Cutta dumped the puck out, sending Verot on his way. He backhanded one past Anderson for his second of the year.

“Our line, we’re kind of out there as a checking line,” said Parsons. “It’s good to chip in, and when the regular guys are scoring, it’s all going to come together and we’re going to win a lot of games.”

PIRATES NOTES: Former UMaine goaltender Matt Yeats was with the Pirates this weekend in case Portland needed a backup. Goaltender Maxime Ouellet was called up by Washington Friday. There was a chance Ouellet was going to get the start with the Capitals Saturday, but he was returned to Portland in time to backup Stana.

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