Pirates beach the Whale; Binghamton next

Paul Byron scored twice and added an assist to lead the Portland Pirates to a 6-4 win over the Connecticut Whale in Game 6 of their Atlantic Division Semifinal Series played tonight in front of 4,514 at the XL Center.

The won the best-of-seven series 4-2 and advance to the Atlantic Division Final to face either the Manchester Monarchs or the Binghamton Senators. Those two teams were heading into overtime in Game 7 at the time of writing tonight.

Mark Parrish added a goal and two assists in the Pirates win while Mark Mancari supplied a goal and an assist. Corey Tropp rounded out the scoring.

Jeremy Williams, Dale Weise, Carl Hagelin and Chad Kolarik scored for the Whale.

The Whale used the power play for the first two goals of the game as Williams and Weise connected on the man advantage to give Connecticut a 2-0 lead after one. The Pirates jumped out quickly in the second as they scored three times (Byron, Parrish and Mancari) in the opening nine-and-a-half minutes to grab a 3-2 lead. Hagelin tied it just over a minute after the Pirates surged ahead but Biega netted the go-ahead goal in the final three minutes of the second to give Portland a 4-3 lead heading into the third. Byron, with the eventual game winner, and Tropp built the Pirates lead to 6-3 before Kolarki completed the scoring with a last minute power-play goal.
The Whale out shot the Pirates 34-30 in the game as David Leggio posted the victory.
The Allied Home Mortgage Three Stars of the Game were 1. Byron, 2. Parrish and 3. Connecticut defenseman Wade Redden (two assists).

Tickets for the Atlantic Division Finals against the Binghamton Senators will go on sale Monday morning at 10 a.m. at the Cumberland County Civic Center Box Office,and can be ordered by calling 207-775-3458 or online at portlandpirates.com.

Atlantic Division Final
A1-Portland Pirates vs. E5-Binghamton Senators
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 27 – Binghamton at Portland, 7:00
Game 2 – Thu., Apr. 28 – Binghamton at Portland, 7:00
Game 3 – Sat., Apr. 30 – Portland at Binghamton, 7:05
Game 4 – Mon., May 2 – Portland at Binghamton, 7:05
*Game 5 – Tue., May 3 – Portland at Binghamton, 7:05
*Game 6 – Fri., May 6 – Binghamton at Portland, 7:00
*Game 7 – Sat., May 7 – Binghamton at Portland, 7:00
* if necessary