PORTLAND – Chris Ferraro looked around the empty Cumberland County Civic Center and felt a sense of familiarity.

“It feels like home,” said Ferraro, prior to his team’s game with the Pirates. “It feels very comfortable here. I played more games here than I have with the team I’m with now.”

Chris and his brother, Peter, returned to Portland a week ago as members of the Springfield Falcons. For two years, the former Maine Black Bears had been back in Maine playing for the Pirates. With the Washington Capitals taking a more youthful approach in the organization, the two veterans were signed to help bolster a young Falcon team and have gotten a fresh start in Springfield.

“In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve learned a ton,” said Chris about playing for new coach Marty McSorely. “It’s kind of lit a fire under my bum to work on my game even more and still improve at this stage of the game for myself.”

The Ferraros learned early on that the Capitals were not interested in resigning the them. Portland wanted to give some of its younger players greater opportunity and were scaling back on some of the veterans.

“They were up front and honest and let us know where we stood with the whole organization,” said Ferraro. “It wasn’t anything personal. It was the direction the organization was heading. It was a very classy parting and very respectful, allowing us to look to other teams right away. (General Manager George McPhee) was straight up and honest right from the get go.”

The Phoenix organization was looking for some experienced talent to help provide depth and leadership in Springfield. Adding both Ferraros suited both parties fine.

“It’s always a good feeling when an organization as a whole goes out of their way to make it possible for you to be part of their organization,” he said. “After all the years we’ve played, they still feel we can be depth players if something should happen with the Coyotes.”

Leaving Portland closed a difficult chapter for the twins. It was shortly after the Ferraros came to Portland two seasons ago that Chris’ wife, Jennifer, was diagnosed with cancer. She died just over a year ago.

“The whole unfortunate thing about being in the Washington Capitals organization was that those were the worst two years of our lives,” said Chris.”We lost a loved one. It turned our whole world upside down. It devastated our family. Unfortunately, at that time, the Capitals organization was the one that had to deal with that. So we weren’t totally at our best physically or mentally.

“We’ll never forget the support we got from the whole organization, from top to bottom. They came to our rescue at a time of need for us.”

Peter didn’t play in Springfield’s first appearance in Portland last week. He was out with an injury. Chris played and drew a late penalty that led to the Pirates’ game-winning power play goal. The two not only are among the team’s top scorers but also lead the team in penalty minutes.

“There are situations from summer to summer where teams want just Peter alone or want just me alone,” said Ferraro. “This was a summer where teams wanted us together and anytime we can take advantage of that we’re going too.”

Road trip

The Pirates are about to embark on a five-game road trip. Portland travels to Norfolk for two games and one in Philadelphia. They also have a game at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence before returning home for a game with Worcester the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

“It will be a good test of our character,” said Pirates coach Tim Army. “It’s a good test of our unity as a team. Certainly it can get us to feel a little bit better about our road game. It’s a good time for it. We’ve come off a big win (4-0 over Wilkes-Barre Saturday). We started 0-4 and now we’re 7-9. So we’re really 7-5 since going 0-4 and we’ve played Manchester and Hartford. We’ve had a tough schedule and we’ve played some very good hockey. It’s a good time for that next step and challenge ourselves as a team in a tough environment.”

Portland is 1-6 on the road, something they hope to change during this trip.

“We’ve got to right ourselves on the road,” said Army. “We’ve got to start getting confidence on the road. So in that respect, I think, it is important.”

It is also a stretch that could set the tone for the coming month. At 7-9, the Pirates are keeping pace with the rest of the Atlantic Division.

“It’s a big five game stretch where we’re keeping ourselves in the thick of things,” said Army. “You come back home either in a good spot or you come back home with a big hole to fill. At this time of year, it’s an important five-game segment.”

Paying the penalty

Army is concerned with his team’s recent increase in minor penalties. In its last two games, Portland provided a few too many power-play opportunities for their opponents.

“I’m a little concerned a bit of a trend,” said Army. “We had seven shorthanded situations (Friday) and we had six situations (Saturday). That’s too many. We’ve been good all year not giving that many opportunities to the opposition like we did a year ago.”

Portland was 25th out of 28 teams in the AHL with just 16.3 penalty minutes per game. Last year the team was toward the top of the league in penalty minutes. Portland’s penalty kill ranks ninth in the league at over 87 percent but the power play unit is last at 7.9 percent. So forcing a team to score while five-on-five makes a difference in the Pirates hopes.

“We’ve talked about it, but I’m going to have to nip it in the bud right away and not allow it to escalate,” said Army. “There’s too many opportunities and you can’t give good teams chances. I want to address that going on the road here.”

News and notes

There are a number of former Pirates around the AHL that are serving as captains on their squads – Patrick Boileau (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), Benoit Gratton (Hamilton), Matt Herr (Providence) and Peter and Chris Ferraro (Springfield).

Defenseman Josef Boumedienne has had his foot recast and is expected to be out for another two weeks. Defenseman J. F. Fortin has begun skating again but how soon he’ll return from a nagging back strain isn’t known. Forward Owen Fussey was recalled by Washington over the weekend but did not play for the Capitals. Army didn’t know how soon he’d be back. Rastislav Stana is still with the Capitals, serving as backup to Olaf Kolgiz while Sebastien Charpentier is out with an injury.