Norfolk Admirals Doubled Up By Portland Pirates, 4-2

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com -PORTLAND, Me. – Mitch Fritz netted his first goal of the season and Justin Keller scored for the fifth time in 2009-10. However, the Norfolk Admirals (10-10-1-0) fell to the Portland Pirates (9-10-2-0) 4-2 on Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The Admirals dropped to 2-3-1-0 through six contests of their eight-game road trip, which continues tomorrow afternoon in Worcester, Massachusetts against the Worcester Sharks.

The Admirals took a 1-0 lead 7:50 into the game. Justin Keller emerged from behind the goal line and skated through the right circle. He sent a shot near the faceoff dot that deflected off the stick of a Portland defenseman and beat Pirates netminder Jean-Philippe Lamoureux for Keller’s fifth goal of the season.

The Pirates tied the game at 1-1 less than five minutes later. Felix Schutz and Derek Whitmore executed a give-and-go through the neutral zone and Schutz cut down the slot near the edge of the right faceoff circle. Schutz sent a backhand shot into the net off the arm of Norfolk netminder Riku Helenius at 12:27.

Portland took a two-goal lead with a pair of similar goals just 42 seconds apart early in the second period. Matt Generous sent a wrist shot from the right point past a screened Helenius at 4:47. Then Drew Schiestel sent another screened shot from the top of the right circle into the net off the crossbar at 5:27.

Norfolk closed their gap to one goal at 14:48 of the second period. Chris Lawrence fended off a Pirate defender as he skated the puck from the right corner to the top of the right circle before cutting across the slot and sending a shot on net. Stationed at the top of the crease, Mitch Fritz deflected the shot past Lamoureux for his first goal as an Admiral.

The Admirals came out of the gates strong to begin the third period with several quality scoring chances in the opening minutes of the final frame. However, the visitors were unable to net a third goal and Cody McCormick tallied an empty-net goal with 1:02 left to seal the 4-2 victory for the Pirates.

Riku Helenius (22 shots, 19 saves) took the loss. Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (25 shots, 23 saves) got the win.

Norfolk was 0-2 on the power play. Portland was 0-3.

The Admirals will play game seven of their season-long eight-game road trip against the Worcester Sharks tomorrow afternoon at 3:05. All Admirals games can be heard on STAR 1310-AM and star1310.com. They can also be seen on a pay-per-view basis on ahllive.com.

Commissioner Bud Selig shaved drug suspensions of players and broke the rules of MLB. Will Manny Ramirez and three others do a year? What will happen to dozens of minor league players whose records, teams, and leagues are affected? Read the whole story at SZ ( www.mlnsports.com).