Apr. 19 PORTLAND Me Hartford @ Portland
PORTLAND, Maine -- Pirates win a hard fought playoff "classic", 3-2 over the Hartford WolfPack to take a 2-1 lead in their Atlantic Div Semi...and while Portland was given a huge boost by the return of both Bobby Ryan (from Anaheim) and Drew Miller (from injury), I thought a key to the Pirates' success was the large contribution made by their fourth line --which featured rookie Matt Caruana between Michal Birner and Darryl Bootland-- which spent much of the night in the grill of Hartford goalie David LeNeveu....between them they had three shots (all of them by Birner) and kept WolfPack forwards honest...Of course, in the regular season, when AHL teams can only dress 17 players, there is no true fourth line. However, with 18 dressing in the playoffs, teams that have the personnel (such as Portland) can roll unit after unit, which had a wear down effect on the Pack (whose fourth line consisted of three players from the ECHL)...."When you're four deep," said Portland coach Kevin Dineen, "it's like baseball. Your line up's a little deeper. It's like a 3-4-5 hitter. I think it should be 18 and 2 (goalies) all year long. I wish they would. They say 'aw, then they'll just dress another tough guy.' But we're a development league now, and you're stealing a (roster) spot. We're a development league, and players should get a little better opportunity."
Dan Hickling
in Hockey, Anaheim Ducks, Portland Pirates, American Hockey League
|
Post a Comment
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments