The Portland Pirates scored first, scored last and pressured the Worcester Sharks throughout the third period Sunday evening.
It still wasn’t enough to earn that elusive first victory of the season.
Worcester goalie Troy Grosenick made 11 of his 30 saves in the third period, and the Sharks held on for a 3-2 victory in front of 1,801 at DCU Center.
Andy Miele scored both goals for the Pirates, who fell to 0-3-0-1 with the defeat.
“Of the four games, I was the most disappointed with the way we played in this one,” Pirates coach Ray Edwards said. “We out-chanced them. We had a lot of real good opportunties, but we didn’t put the puck in the net. We took seven minor penalties, which is disappointing, and five of which were really poor on our part.”
Miele put Portland in front 4:25 into the game, but Worcester answered with three consecutive goals, including power-play efforts by Bracken Kearns before the first intermission.
With Brett Hextall in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct, Kearns cashed in the equalizer at 6:24. Eriah Hayes and Brodie Reid provided the assists.
“Penalties kill your momentum,” Edwards said.
That trend continued when Portland took a bench minor for too many men on the ice late in the period.
Kearns capitalized once more. Reid again logged an assist along with Daniil Tarasov with 40 seconds remaining.
“They had two scoring chances the whole period and we were down 2-1,” Edwards said.
Worcester extended the advantage to 3-1 on Tarasov’s goal at 15:53 of the second. Riley Brace and Dylan Demelo assisted.
Miele brought the Pirates back within a goal with 2:11 remaining in the period, set up by Connor Murphy and Brandon Gormley.
That was it, though, with Grosenick slamming the door in the third.
“We scored a beautiful goal to get within one. Then we had two more breakaways and just couldn’t put it in,” Edwards said. “But that’s our story right now. We’re not capitalizing.”
Mike Lee made 27 saves for the Pirates in a whistle-heavy contest. Fifty-eight penalty minutes were assessed.
Portland owned a 32-30 edge in shots, including 11-6 in the third.
The Pirates went 0-for-4 on the power play compared to 2-for-7 for Worcester.
Portland travels to Hartford on Wednesday and Albany on Saturday. The next home game at Androscoggin Bank Colisee is Oct. 30.
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