PROVIDENCE, R.I. – File this under the heading of why games are played on ice instead of paper.
After smoking the Providence Bruins 7-0 on Wednesday at the Cumberland County Civic Center, the Portland Pirates ran out of goals. Providence took a 4-3 win in a shootout Friday at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
Zach Hamill and Jamie Arniel scored the only goals in the shootout, which enabled the Bruins to break a seven-game losing streak.
Providence can thank rookie goaltender Michael Hutchinson for that.
In regular time, Hutchinson stood on his head to make 47 saves as Portland outshot the Bruins 50-30. In the shootout, Hutchinson made quality pad saves on Mark Parrish and Mark Mancari in the third and fourth rounds, respectively, which clinched the victory.
“You get 50 shots on a goalie and you expect you’re going to score some goals,” Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. “He played a heck of a game.
“I liked the number of opportunities we created. We got down three times in the game and kept pushing back. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish it.”
Portland came within an inch of finishing it with just over a minute left in overtime when Mancari fed Luke Adam in the slot and Adam clanged a shot off the left post.
“As much as I look at that and you see frustration by not scoring, I also like to think we worked hard to create the chances we did,” Dineen said. “Instead of dwelling on the missed chances I think you have to acknowledge that our guys played a solid road game and gave ourselves a really good chance to win.”
Portland might have had a good chance to win in regulation before goalie Jhonas Enroth — who made 26 saves — made a mistake.
With the game tied 2-2, Providence’s Yury Alexandrov scaled the puck off the boards. Enroth came out of his net but the puck was swiped by Jordan Caron who slid it inside the right post at 9:22.
“Jhonas misplayed the puck and it ended up in our net,” Dineen said. “It doesn’t happen a lot but it does happen. Mistakes are made and they end up in the back of your net.
“He’s played a good stretch of hockey for us lately. You throw in the game he played with Buffalo against Montreal (Enroth made 32 saves as Buffalo beat Montreal 3-2 in a shootout on Tuesday) and he’s had a real solid last eight to 10 days.
“It was an unfortunate goal but it wasn’t a deal-breaker,” Dineen said. “I thought we had plenty of opportunities.”
Portland capitalized on one of those opportunities to force overtime when Mancari drilled home his AHL-leading 31st goal at 13:20.
Mancari’s goal continued a “you score, I score” trend.
Hamill’s wrister at 4:24 of the first was matched by Jacob Legace’s goal at 5:56 after a tape-to-tape pass by Parrish.
Lane MacDermid gave Providence a 2-1 lead at 15:31 of the second but T.J. Brennan tied it with 22 seconds left in the period when he converted a perfect drop pass from Adam.
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