BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Sure, the Portland Pirates rode the bus for over four hours to get here Sunday. After playing just three games in 11 days, though, they could have easily been the better team.
Instead, the injury-depleted Bridgeport Sound Tigers shut down the Pirates’ offense Sunday and won 3-0 at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
“I think you look at the tone of the game,” Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. “I wouldn’t consider us tired. We’re a team that just came off a week’s break. We had a lot of rest this week.”
The Pirates have even more rest coming up: They don’t play again until Friday at home against Springfield.
“We’ve got a few days to think about it, to dwell on it,” Portland forward Mark Parrish said.
Bridgeport, playing with six players called up from the ECHL in the past three weeks, played simple, hard-working hockey and limited the Pirates’ chances.
Bridgeport rookie goalie Kevin Poulin made 29 saves to get his first pro shutout.
One of the few real dangerous moments came on Portland’s second power play of the first period, when Bridgeport had a 1-0 lead.
Bridgeport blocked a number of shots before the Pirates centered the puck to Derek Whitmore at the front of the net. Poulin stopped Whitmore’s first shot and got a stick on the rebound.
The Pirates had three power plays before the midpoint of the second period. They had six of their shots on those power plays but failed to score.
“You’ve got a 1-0 game and you get a power-play opportunity, you’ve got to take advantage, get some good looks,” Dineen said.
The Sound Tigers (8-11-0-0) came into Sunday at the bottom of the division and finishing four games in six nights. Their week began with news that their coach, former University of Maine standout Jack Capuano, had been promoted to interim head coach of the New York Islanders.
Their new coach, Pat Bingham, scratched seven regulars with injury. Another player, captain Mark Wotton, got back into the lineup after missing two games with injury when he heard the team would otherwise be a man short.
Bridgeport still had more life at the start. At 13:49 of the first, Robin Figren banked a right-side shot along the goal line, off goalie Jhonas Enroth’s right pad and in.
“Their goaltender played better than ours,” Dineen said. “Their power play was better than ours. Those things added up to a loss.”
Bridgeport’s Jon Sim scored two power-play goals in the second period.
The loss ended a streak of five games with at least a point for Portland, which remains atop the Atlantic Division at 13-4-1-0. Bridgeport has dealt the Pirates two of those regulation losses, both at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
Poulin was in goal for both, including a 4-1 Sound Tigers win Oct. 17.
Enroth returned from a one-day stint with the Buffalo Sabres. He did not play in the Sabres’ 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay.
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