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Wednesday roundup: Pirates keep rolling

Wednesday’s AHL Boxscores

PORTLAND 2, MANCHESTER 0
Goaltender Jhonas Enroth made 39 saves for his first shutout of the season as Portland stayed hot with a 2-0 road win over first-place Manchester on Wednesday at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

The Pirates have won three straight games and have a point in 10 in a row (7-0-3-0) since suffering a 6-1 loss at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Nov. 11.

Rookie forward Matt Caruana provided all the offense the Pirates would need at 13:35 of the opening period. Caruana’s second goal of the campaign came at even strength and was assisted by Kyle Rank and defenseman Drew Scheistel.

Felix Schutz provided insurance for Portland 14:26 into the second period, netting his fifth goal in the last five games. Defenseman Mike Weber and rookie forward Philip Gogulla earned the helpers.

Enroth preserved the lead the rest of the way, making 16 saves in the second period and 10 more in the third frame to improve to 7-8-0 on the season.

The Monarchs, who lost in regulation at home for just the second time all year (9-2-0-1), saw their overall three-game winning steak come to an end.

PROVIDENCE 2, BRIDGEPORT 1 (SO)
Brad Marchand’s fifth-round shootout goal allowed Providence to eke out a 2-1 road win over Bridgeport on Wednesday at the Arena at Harbor Yard.

Mikko Lehtonen and Zach Hamill also netted shootout markers for the Bruins, who improved to 6-2-0-0 in their last eight contests. B’s goaltender Dany Sabourin made 24 saves through the first 65 minutes before stopping three of five shootout tries.

The Sound Tigers grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Greg Mauldin scored just 3:45 into the contest. Bridgeport held that lead until Lehtonen tied it for Providence at 1:17 of the third frame.

Greg Moore and Justin DiBenedetto registered shootout goals for the Sound Tigers, who lost for just the second time this season in a game that extended beyond regulation (8-0-0-2).

LOWELL 5, ADIRONDACK 3
Lowell’s offense sprang back to life on Wednesday with a 5-3 win over visiting Adirondack at Tsongas Arena. The Devils, who entered with the league’s fifth-ranked offense, snapped a three-game losing skid during which they totaled just two goals.

Brad Mills led the way with his first two goals of the season for the Devils, who scored four times in the second period to pull away. Nick Palmieri, Alexander Vasyunov, and Patrick Davis also found the back of the net.

Lowell, which entered as one of five AHL teams yet to score a shorthanded goal this season, received man-down markers from both Mills and Davis on the night.

Devils goaltender Jeff Frazee earned the victory with 31 saves on 34 shots in net.

Stefan Legein, David Laliberte, and Jon Matsumoto scored for the Phantoms, and defenseman Danny Syvret assisted on all three markers. Adirondack fell to 1-4-0-0 in its last five contests.

ROCKFORD 3, CHICAGO 2
Rockford jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two periods and held on for a 3-2 win over visiting Chicago on Wednesday at the MetroCentre.

Kyle Greentree and Jack Skille staked the IceHogs to a 2-0 first-period lead, with Bracken Kearns assisting on both markers. Skille picked up a helper on Greentree’s goal, and the former first-round draft pick now has a point in five straight games (2-5-7).

Bryan Bickell extended Rockford’s advantage to 3-0 with just under three minutes to play in the second period, with assists going to Richard Petiot and Pete MacArthur.

That proved to be the game-winning goal when the Wolves made a late run on third-period tallies by Nathan Oystrick – his first of the season – and Brett Sterling.

But IceHogs goaltender held on to earn the victory with 24 saves on 26 shots in net.

Chicago has now dropped three straight games for the first time since starting the season 0-3-0-0.

PEORIA 4, MILWAUKEE 3 (SO)
Julian Talbot and rookie Lars Eller tallied shootout goals as Peoria pulled out a 4-3 road win over Milwaukee on Wednesday at the Bradley Center.

Milwaukee grabbed a 1-0 first-period lead on a goal by Andreas Thuresson at 11:56, but the Rivermen roared back with a trio of goals in the middle frame. Defenseman Bryce Lampman and Talbot registered power play goals just 39 seconds apart, and Barry Tallackson gave Peoria a 3-1 lead at the 7:23 mark.

But the Admirals climbed back to a draw before the period was out, as Peter Olvecky lit the lamp at 8:38 and defenseman Scott Ford followed with his first goal of the season at 16:36. Neither side scored in the third period.

Rivermen goaltender Ben Bishop returned from injury and made 27 saves through the first 65 minutes before stopping four of five tries in the shootout.

Jones tallied the lone shootout goal for Milwaukee, which still earned a point for the sixth time in its last seven games (4-1-0-2).

MANITOBA 2, ROCHESTER 1
Aaron Rome scored twice as Manitoba upended league-leading Rochester by a 2-1 count on Wednesday before 6,342 fans at the MTS Centre.

The Moose handed Rochester just its fourth regulation loss of the season (18-4-1-0) and earned a split of the division rivals’ two-game midweek set in Winnipeg.

Graham Mink gave the Americans a 1-0 lead when he beat Moose goaltender Cory Schneider just 26 seconds after the opening face-off, with Chris Taylor picking up the lone assist. Rochester entered the night with a record of 13-0-1-0 when scoring the game’s first goal.

But Rome, assigned to the Moose by parent-club Vancouver for conditioning on Monday, tallied the equalizer on the power play at 17:07 of the opening period. Marty Murray and Matt Pettinger earned the helpers.

Rome then gave Manitoba the lead for good 9:08 into the middle stanza, with rookie Sergei Shirokov earning the lone assist.

Schneider made the slim advantage stand up, finishing with 26 saves on 27 shots between the pipes.