Mighty Miele Leads Pirates Past ‘Pack

Hartford, CT – The Portland Pirates won their first game of the season in decisive fashion, defeating the
Hartford Wolf Pack by a 4–2 score. Andy Miele scored twice while Daine Todd added 3 assists. The Pirates went 3 for 8 on the power play, with all three power play tallies coming in the second period.

The Pirates came out firing, putting 11 shots on goal during the first frame. With 5:54 left in the period, Andy Miele would give the Pirates the lead with his 4th goal of the year. Miele’s goal, assisted by Phil Lane and Daine Todd, was the 4th straight goal Miele had scored for the Pirates, and extended his goal streak to 3 games and point streak to 5 games.

The Pirates’ power play would take over in the second period. Jordan Szwarz tallied his second of the year 1:53 into the 2nd after an Aaron Johnson penalty. Daine Todd picked up his second assist of the night while Brandon Gormley added his 5th assist of the year. Chris Brown added to the Pirates lead with another power play goal, this time at 8:55 of the second. Jordan Martinook and Brendan Shinnimin had assists on Brown’s 30th career AHL goal and 50th career AHL point. Kyle Jean would get one back for the Wolf Pack with 2:28 left in the second, but a 5 on 3 advantage led to another Miele goal with 43 seconds left in the second to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. Daine Todd picked up his third assist of the night on Miele’s second goal of the game, with Brown picking up a helper as well.

Hartford inched back in the game with a Danny Kristo power play tally with 13:43 left in regulation, but Pirates goaltender Mark Visentin shut the door, making 8 saves in the third period to seal the Pirates victory.

Portland gets their first win of the season, improving to 1-3-0-1, with Mark Visentin’s 18 saves earning him the victory (1-1-0-1). Hartford falls to 5-1-0-1, dropping their first regulation decision of the year. Andy Miele’s 2 goals give him 8 points on the year and 115 career points for the Pirates, while extending his point streak to 5 games.

The Pirates get back to action for the final game of their three game road set on Saturday as they travel to Albany to face the Devils. Puck drop is set for 5 pm and the game can be heard on the Pirates flagship stations WPEI 95.5/95.9 FM as well as WEZR AM 1240 in the Lewiston/Auburn area and WTME AM 780/1450 in Oxford County. The game can also be heard online at portlandpirates.com by clicking “Listen Live” and AHL Live. The pregame show starts at 4:40 with Jeff Mannix.