PORTLAND—Four months from now, players and coaches of American Hockey League teams that are on the cusp of a playoff berth will be thinking back to that one game that either nudged them into the postseason, or that postponed their Calder Cup dreams for one more year.

Tuesday night’s 2-1 win against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers could end up being one of those nights for the Portland Pirates. In a good way, even though Head Coach Ray Edwards had plenty to be displeased with.

“I didn’t like the first period at all,” said Edwards. “The second got better, and the third was even better, so we improved as the game went on, but I didn’t think we were moving our feet early on.”

In other words: the Pirates won, but there is plenty of work to be done moving forward.

Neither team was able to score through the first two periods of play, but Pirates’ goalie Chad Johnson looked fantastic in his first start since missing a few games with a lower body injury. Johnson turned aside all 18 shots through the opening 40 minutes of regulation and looked poised in the Portland net.

“He’s been playing great for us,” said Pirates’ defenseman David Rundblad, who eventually scored the game winning goal in overtime. “He’s a great guy as well in the locker room, and he’s been very helpful for the younger guys.”

The deadlock was finally broken at 5:44 of the third period when Portland connected on the power play. With Anders Nilsson sprawled on the ice after making a pad save on Maxim Goncharov, the puck careened right to Alexandre Bolduc, who hammered the puck into the top half of the net.

“Five-on-five I thought we were pretty good tonight,” said Edwards. “We didn’t give up a whole lot of chances, except on the power play, which for me is the area that we have to address.”

Less than three minutes after Bolduc’s goal, Bridgeport’s leading scorer, Nino Niederreiter, tied the game on a similar play. Colin McDonald shoveled a low shot on net and Niederreiter made no mistake on the rebound.

With 8:35 to go in regulation, Niederreiter had a chance to put Brideport ahead with another power play goal, but Johnson snared the point-blank bid with his glove.

Neither team scored again in the third period. Both teams chalked up their single point in the standings and headed to overtime.

A Portland power play carried over into overtime, but Anders Nilsson stayed strong in net for the Sound Tigers. That is, until Portland was awarded another two minutes of four-on-three to work with.

Rundblad, who hit the post with seconds remaining in regulation, collected a pass from Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the slo, and snapped a low shot through Nilsson for the game-winning strike.

“I try to get (the puck) to the net when I get the chance,” said Rundblad. “[AHL] forwards are too good to just stand in one spot, so I had to move into open space and Chris Brown did a great job in front of the net.”

The Pirates had a strong night on the power play, going 2-for-5. Bridgeport finished 1-for-6.

Johnson stopped 28 of 29 shots en route to his 8th win of the season. Nilsson made 25 saves in defeat.

NOTES: This was the first meeting of the season between the Pirates and Sound Tigers. With the win, Portland improves to 11-5-0-0 at home against Bridgeport over the last five years. The Pirates play next on Friday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisée in Lewiston against the Manchester Monarchs. Bridgeport Head Coach Scott Pellerin played 167 games for the University of Maine Black Bears between 1988 and 1992, finishing his NCAA career with 223 points (106 goals and 117 assists).