LEWISTON — Mike McKenna was known during his time with the Portland Pirates as an affable, approachable player. Saturday, he was a thorn in the Pirates’ side, allowing just one goal on 36 shots through overtime and stopping four of five attempts in the shootout to lead the Springfield Falcons to a 2-1 win over the Pirates in front of 2,704 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“It wasn’t by myself tonight, especially on the penalty kills,” McKenna said. “You try to do what you can, but when it comes to penalty kills you have to have everybody on board.

“If we can do our best job to keep our goals against as low as we can, get a little bit of run support here and there, we’ll get some wins.”

After allowing the Pirates’ first shooter, defenseman Daine Todd, to score, McKenna shut the door on the Pirates’ top scorers to earn the road victory.

“We have tricks as goalies,” McKenna said. “You usually don’t expect anyone to do the same move twice, but the minute you think that, they do the same move and they score. Honestly, in shootouts, I just try to have fun. You can go out there and kill yourself if you over think things. For me, I just have to be loose, be able to adapt on the fly and have fun with it.”

In the other crease, Mike Lee made his first start for the Pirates since October 20, and was the hard-luck loser after making 30 saves on 31 shots through the end of overtime.

“Both goalies tonight were good,” Pirates’ coach Ray Edwards said. “Really good.”

The game itself was a grind, with big hits and little room to move for either side.

“We knew just watching them … we knew that was the type of game it was going to be,” Edwards said. “Our guys were ready for it. It was a very highly-contested game. There wasn’t much space. Every time you were on the ice, you paid a price. Every puck was contested. It was a great hockey game.”

And it took until the third period for either team to score a goal.

“We knew going into the third period, if we could get one, we might have a chance,” Edwards said.

Gilbert Brulé picked up a wayward Springfield pass at the red line, broke in alone on McKenna and roofed a backhander off a deke under the crossbar at 5:48 of the third for that elusive 1-0 lead.

Brulé, a first-round draft pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2005, now has five goals in seven games this season for the Pirates, with whom he is still signed on a professional tryout agreement. Brulé once skated for the Falcons when he was still with the Blue Jackets’ organization, in 2008-09, before being dealt to Edmonton.

Late in the third period, at the very end of a four-minute penalty to Brandon Yip for high-sticking, the Falcons tied the game, ultimately forcing overtime. Darryl Boyce redirected a Cody Goloubef shot through traffic in front of Lee for the goal.

“That was a tough break on that power play goal, it went off a guy’s skate,” Edwards said. “But that’s what happens when you throw pucks to the net.”

Brulé thought he’d won the game for the Pirates in the waning seconds of regulation time when a shot caromed to the speedy forward in the low left circle. But McKenna kicked out his right leg and got a toe on Brulé’s shot that appeared headed for the back of the net.

The Pirates also survived an injury scare in the second period. With less than five minutes to play in the second period, Springfield’s Dalton Smith and Pirates defenseman Daine Todd got mixed up as Smith drove to the cage. The two tangled and tumbled into Lee, who lost his catching glove in the collision.

Todd got the worst of the injuries, though. Blood from his face gelled quickly on the ice as he stayed down in pain, eventually holding a towel tight to his face as he skated off under his own power. He returned at the start of the third period, wearing a full face shield.

“There was a lot of toughness from the group tonight,” Edwards said. “We had a lot of guys finish the game playing hurt, and that says a lot about your group. It says a lot about our effort.”

NOTES: Springfield athletic therapist Tom Bourdon, who served in that capacity during two different stints for the Lewiston Maineiacs, made his first trip back to the Colisee as a member of a visiting team Saturday. He was greeted by a steady stream of visitors and well-wishers, both prior to the game and afterward … McKenna played for the Pirates in 2007-08 … rookie defenseman Connor Murphy, called up earlier this week by the Coyotes, played in his fist NHL game Saturday night …

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