PORTLAND — Tim Kennedy did it again to the Portland Pirates on Monday afternoon.
After stealing the puck just inside his blue line, Kennedy, who spent the 2008-09 season with the Pirates, set up veteran defenseman Wade Redden’s breakaway goal 1:23 into overtime to lift the Connecticut Whale to a 2-1 win before a Presidents Day crowd of 5,574 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
“I like this rink and, when I played here two years ago, I really liked it,” said Kennedy, who scored winning goals against the Pirates during overtime in back-to-back games in December. “When I play here it’s almost not like a road game. It’s more of a home game for me. It just happens that when I’m playing here things happen to be going my way.”
Things definitely didn’t go the Pirates’ way Monday.
“It was our worst (game) of the year,” Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. “We can’t get any worse than that in all aspects, from our structure to our work ethic.”
It was the third consecutive loss for the Pirates, who pulled to within two points of idle Manchester in the race for first place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division. Portland has three games in hand over the Monarchs.
“We’re a team that prides itself on its work ethic and playing a hard-nosed game and a simple style of hockey, and we didn’t have it,” forward Mark Parrish said. “Whether it was our mindset, whether it was four (games) in six (nights), whether it was an afternoon game, whatever it was, I hope it’s something the guys realize and learn from it.”
The outstanding play of goalie Jhonas Enroth kept the Pirates in the game until the end.
“Our goaltender played great,” Dineen said. “He had a real solid night, but after that, boy.”
Enroth made 18 of his 29 saves during the first period, including a stop on Kelsey Tessier on a breakaway six minutes in.
The Pirates, meanwhile, managed to take just four shots on goal during the first 20 minutes.
“When you get only four shots. That means you’re not working for your chances,” Dineen said. “That’s a shame because we had a nice buzz in the building, and, to come with that effort is not something we’ve seen this year.”
The Pirates took a season-low 16 shots on goal.
“More than any thing else, we always have a strong work ethic, and (today) we got outworked in our own building,” Dineen said. “(The Whale) have got a bunch of knuckleheads on their team out there playing and running around, and we got caught up in that instead of playing our game and staying focused.”
Connecticut opened the scoring six minutes into the second period when Kennedy intercepted Portland defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani’s pass from out of the left circle. Kennedy quickly sent the puck across the slot to Dale Wiese to set up a two-on-one break. Evgeny Grachev finished if off with a shot from the middle of the left circle.
Mark Mancari helped the Pirates salvage one standings point when he put in a rebound for his AHL-leading 32nd goal of the season with 3:28 left in the third period to send the game into overtime.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.com
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