Editor’s Note: this is from Saturday night

Matt Watkins had a hand in all three scores, registering a pair of goals and an assist, and Brett MacLean contributed a goal and an assist of his own as the Portland Pirates defeated the Providence Bruins by a count of 3-2 this evening in front of 6,410 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Andy Miele extended his point streak to six games, assisting on MacLean’s goal, and Curtis McElhinney made 27 saves as the Pirates closed out a perfect four-game home stand, improving to 8-7-0-1 overall and 5-4-0-0 at the Civic Center.

Josh Hennessy recorded a two point night with a goal and an assist and Jamie Tardif tallied the other Providence goal as the Bruins dropped to 8-10-1-0 on the season.

Portland jumped out on top when Watkins tallied his second of the season on a wristshot from the left circle, seven minutes into the opening frame. Less than two minutes later, Providence provided an answer while on the power play with Tardif capitalizing on a rebound from a David Warsofsky slapshot. The Pirates struck early in the second period with MacLean firing a one-timer past Providence goaltender Anton Khudobin at the 1:03 mark and Watkins would give the hosts additional cushion with his second of the night, skating coast-to-coast and snapping a wristshot to Khudobin’s stick side from the right circle with nine minutes remaining in the middle stanza. The Bruins would make matters interesting when Hennessy knocked in a loose puck during a scrum in front of the net with less than four minutes remaining, but the Pirates defense would clamp down and hold off a ferocious Providence rush to seal their fourth straight victory.

Both teams registered 29 shots as McElhinney won his second straight start for Portland and improved to 4-6-0 on the season. Khudobin stopped 26 shots while dropping to 7-8-0.

The Allied Home Mortgage Three Stars of the Game were: 1. Watkins; 2. MacLean; 3. McElhinney.

The Pirates will next be in action on Wednesday, November 23 when they travel to Hartford, Connecticut to take on the Connecticut Whale in a 7 p.m. faceoff. Fans can catch all of the action live from the XL Center with broadcaster Jeff Mannix on the Portland Pirates Radio Network 95.9 WPEI and 95.5 WPPI.

Pirates hockey will return to the Civic Center on Black Friday, November 25 at 7 p.m. when the Worcester Sharks come to town for the first of 12 meetings this season