Wolf Pack Down Pirates in OT

Miika Wiikman might be on his way to an AHL record for consecutive first-star awards.

Wiikman had 30 saves while keeping the Wolf Pack in the game long enough for Dane Byers to score at 3:16 of overtime for a 3-2 victory over the Portland Pirates before 1,927 at the XL Center Wednesday night.

“We were very lacking in a lot of areas, and Miika is the main reason we got a point, let alone two,” Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander said. “We have to sort things out and get our guys playing better before Friday night (against Worcester).”

Byers scored his team-high fourth goal when he took a drop pass from Greg Moore and rifled a shot from the left circle that deflected in off Adam Dennis (20 saves).

“I was yelling for the puck, and Greg made a very nice play,” Byers said. “I hit it as hard as I could and got a good piece of it.”

But the Wolf Pack (4-3-0-1) won their third in a row and extended their point streak to 3-0-0-1 thanks mainly to Wiikman, named the No. 1 star for the third straight game after improving to 4-2-0-1 with a 2.08 goals-against average and .925 save percentage.

“Miika played great,” Byers said. “I always used to say you can’t make the playoffs in October, but you can miss them, so it’s very important to the team to grind out these kind of wins. Towards the end we were telling ourselves to do the little things, and it paid off.”

Wiikman, who allowed two power-play goals, said he continues to have a good feeling in net.

“I feel I’m in good shape and just want to go on playing my own game and have the other guys do their job, I hope,” Wiikman said. “And I’m seeing the puck a lot better the last few games. The guys are clearing out in front of me, so I can see the puck all the way.”

It was the first meeting since the Pirates eliminated the Wolf Pack in the first round of the playoffs in April. But the Pirates (4-1-1-0) are the new affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres after three seasons with the Anaheim Ducks. But their coach remains former Hartford Whalers captain Kevin Dineen, whose assistant is former Whalers defenseman Eric Weinrich.

“You’re always disappointed when you lose, but I’m happy with the effort,” Dineen said. “Just a couple of mistakes cost us.”

The Wolf Pack had a golden opportunity to take an early lead, but Dennis stopped Byers’ backhander on breakaway during a 5-on-3 power play. Then at 8:18, the Pirates took advantage of the first of three straight power plays when Colin Murphy knocked in a rebound off the end boards after Chris Butler’s shot missed the net.

Wiikman stopped Murphy’s breakaway after a Vladimir Denisov turnover, but on the ensuing rush, Dale Weise deflected Denisov’s shot past Dennis at 14:12.

The Wolf Pack took a 2-1 lead when Artem Anisimov passed from the right corner into the slot to Justin Soryal, whose 30-foot shot beat Dennis to the glove side for his first professional goal with two minutes left in the period.

Strong forechecking helped the Pirates dominate a scoreless second period in which they had an 11-3 shot advantage. But Wiikman stopped Tim Kennedy off a 2-on-1 at 1:10 and a breakaway at 6:16, then came out to deny Butler breaking in off the left point with 2:29 left.

“I felt they were in our zone the whole period, but we got away with that,” Wiikman said.

Wiikman made another good glove save on Felix Schutz at 7:08 of the third period, but 1:03 later, Nate Gerbe took a pass from Kennedy, skated around Corey Potter and scored his team-high sixth goal on a power play to tie it at 2.

The Wolf Pack then failed to get a shot during a 5-on-3 for 1:24 before Wiikman stopped Mathieu Darche off on a 2-on-1 with 1:05 left in regulation, enabling Byers to score the winner.

… The Rangers assigned forward Lauri Korpikoski to the Wolf Pack, but he didn’t play. Korpikoski was scoreless and minus-3 in his first seven NHL regular-season games. He had a goal in NHL debut in the playoffs in April after having career highs in goals (23) and points (50) with the Wolf Pack last season. … The crowd also included Rangers president and general manager Glen Sather and several of his scouting staff.