Acting like true pirates, the Portland Pirates hockey club came into Giant Center on Sunday intent on pilfering the Hershey Bears’ last chance to salvage any points this weekend. However in the end it was the battling Bears that stole away with the two points, clawing out a 3-2 win.

The Bears, who fell behind 2-0 in their previous two outings this weekend, struck first when Francois Bouchard netted his third goal of the season only 2:22 into the contest.

Bouchard, rejuvenated after his reuniting with his former linemates from last season, Mathieu Perreault and Oskar Osala, found the back of the net by banking a shot off the body of Portland goalie, Jhonas Enroth, after taking a pass from Osala from behind the net.

Osala picked up the primary assist on the goal, but it was a heady play by Zach Miskovic that was instrumental in the tally. Miskovic, instead of simply pounding the puck on net from his point position, purposely sent the puck wide of the net to avoid the chaotic scene in front of it.

“I knew they had guys out high trying to fill the lane and block the shot,” said Miskovic, who picked up his first professional point with the assist. “I just tried to shoot wide and get the puck deep. Osala, Bouchard and Perreault were working down well down low and I just wanted to get the puck in their hands.”

Utilizing the same successful strategy the Binghamton Senators employed the previous night in the first period when the B-Sens scored a pair of goals in rapid-fire fashion, the Pirates took a 2-1 lead early in the second period on goals by Jeff Cowan and Philip Gogulla within a span of 28 seconds, to take a 2-1 lead.

Head coach, Mark French, who called a timeout on Saturday night after the Senators did their dastardly deed against his team, elected not to call his timeout in this instance.

“I thought we were playing well tonight,” said French. “We made two glaring mistakes on their goals. We just don’t have a lot of margin for error right now because we’re not scoring so every mistake we make seems to be magnified; but I had confidence that our heads were in the right place, so I didn’t think they needed to settle down or get refocused, where last night it was clearly the opposite.”

Hershey’s starting goaltender on Sunday, Jason Bacashihua, who watched from the bench on Saturday when Michal Neuvirth was in net, took the sudden change of events personally.

“It was a 1-0 game and they get a quick one and then another, and the next thing you know you’re down 2-1,” remembers Bacashihua. “At that point, I’m thinking to myself, I’ve got to make one of those saves.”

“As a goalie, there is nothing you can do about the ones that beat you; it’s all about what you do afterwards. I just wanted to keep battling and making saves, and give my team a chance to win the game.”

Bacashihua backed up his words with actions late in the second period, gloving down Mark Mancari’s scoring bid, and early in the third period, halting Cowan’s attempt to net his second strike to keep the deficit to a single goal.

Andrew Gordon’s sixth goal of the young campaign at 5:52 of the third stanza, assisted by Kyle Wilson and Tomas Fleischmann, evened the tussle at two.

A double minor penalty for high-sticking committed by Perreault at 12:35 looked to be just the opening that the visitors needed to regain their lead, but Hershey’s penalty killing unit, which has been consistently good in the early going, rose to the challenge.

The unit, which has never allowed more than one goal against in nine outings, and only three goals in all, limited the Pirates to only two shots on goal during the four minute advantage, and even managed to score a short-handed goal in the process. This goal, off the stick of  Steve Pinizzotto, proved to be the game winner.

“I think we have a pretty good identity on the penalty kill now,” said French of his special team. “We’ve got Andrew Joudrey, Steve Pinizzotto, Jay Beagle and Boyd Kane who killed the majority of that penalty, not to mention our defense.”

“I think they have a real good comfort level of what we want and they do a great job executing, and there was a level of desperation in them. They take great pride in that; that’s something they do very well and that’s a big part of their job here. When they see those opportunities, I think they relish it.”

Bacashihua, who improved to 2-0 on the season and was triumphant in his first start at Giant Center, said he had a blast performing for the first time as a Bear in front of the Chocolate and White’s rabid rooters.

“I had a lot of fun tonight. It’s always a lot of fun playing in this building.  Everybody asked me before I came here where was my favorite place to play, and I’d always tell them it was Hershey,” Bacashihua said.

“It’s a great building with great atmosphere and the fans are great. It’s amazing when you get crowds like this every night; it really helps our guys out when they are behind us and cheering.  When I was offered the chance to come here, I didn’t hesitate.”