AHL standings 2012: Portland Pirates split weekend games

It had been over a week since the Portland Pirates dropped their season opener to the Adirondack Phantoms (Philadelphia) when they took on the affiliates of two of their parent club's Pacific Division rivals.

To kick off this season's home games in Portland, the Pirates faced San Jose Sharks affiliate the Worecester Sharks. It was an offensive battle between both teams -- in the first period alone, there was a combined six goals scored.

Portland started the scoring with a short-handed goal by Brett Hextall. A few minutes later, Chris Conner would score the Pirates' second goal of the night. Sebastian Stalberg opened the scoring for Worcester. Following Stalberg's lead, Worecester scored two more goals within 44 seconds of one another before Portland answered back. After the Sharks' third goal of the period, Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored 24 seconds later to end the period in a 3-3 tie.

The offensive battle continued in the second period, with three goals scored for the Pirates and one goal for Worcester. The scoring died down in the third, when Andy Miele netted Portland's final goal of the night, sealing the 7-4 victory for the Pirates.

Saturday had the team back on the road again, this time heading over to visit Los Angeles Kings affiliate the Manchester Monarchs. It would be another high-scoring affair, with Portland taking a 2-0 lead in the first on goals by Alexandre Bolduc and Conner. Conner later scored his second goal of the night, but the Monarchs would start to find their scoring touch by netting three goals in the second, tying the game at 3-3. The third period would be all Monarchs. Manchester scored three goals to Portland's lone goal by Ben Shinnimin, winning the game 6-4.

The Pirates are 12th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 1-2-0-0. Their next game is Tuesday night at 6 p.m. PT against the St. John's IceCaps.