Tomas Fleischmann converted on both of his shootout attempts, including the winning goal in the seventh round, as Portland recorded a 5-4 win over Manchester in AHL preseason action on Sunday afternoon.
Fleischmann, a second-round draft pick by Detroit in 2002, also had two assists in the first period as the Pirates opened up a 3-1 lead just 12:38 into the game. Portland had a three-goal cushion before the Monarchs rallied to tie in the third period, capped by Yanick Lehoux‘s second goal with 17 seconds remaining.
In the shootout, both teams were successful on three of their first five shots, setting up sudden-death rounds to decide the winner. Fleischmann beat Yutaka Fukufuji on the Pirates’ seventh shot, and Maxime Daigneault denied two-time 50-goal scorer Brad Smyth to seal the win.
Boyd Gordon had a goal and an assist for Portland, which netted two power play goals and one shorthanded marker.
LOWELL 6, WORCESTER 5 (SO)
Lowell scored four times in the first period but needed a perfect effort by Sebastien Centomo in a shootout to escape with a 6-5 win over Worcester.
Richie Regehr and Carsen Germyn recorded a goal and two assists apiece for the Lock Monsters, but the IceCats rallied to erase deficits of 4-1 and 5-3. Ryan Ramsay tallied three assists for Worcester, giving him five points in two preseason games.
After a scoreless overtime period, Justin Taylor gave Lowell the early edge in the shootout, and Centomo, an offseason acquisition by the Calgary Flames, stopped all five attempts he faced to close out the IceCats.
HERSHEY 4, BINGHAMTON 1
Marek Svatos had a goal and an assist as Hershey posted a 4-1 victory over Binghamton.
Peter Budaj and Tom Lawson turned aside a combined 15 of 16 shots in net for the Bears, who owned 34-16 edge over the Senators.
Pierre-Luc Courchesne, Mikko Viitanen and Martin Hlinka also scored for Hershey.
HAMILTON 3, ST. JOHN’S 2
Andrei Kostitsyn‘s goal with 3:58 remaining in the first period was the difference as Hamilton took a 3-2 decision from St. John’s.
Kostitsyn, 19, was the 10th overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.
Brendan Bell and Nathan Barrett had staked the Maple Leafs to 1-0 and 2-1 leads earlier in the first, but the Bulldogs answered with goals from Philippe Plante and Marc-Andre Thinel.
Dan Ellis went the distance in net for Hamilton and made 30 saves. Frederic Cloutier stopped all 13 shots he faced in relief of Todd Ford for the Leafs.
