PORTLAND, ME – March 11, 2023 – Trailing 3-0 with under five minutes to play, the Mariners scored twice to make things interesting, but came up a goal short on Saturday night in a 3-2 loss to the Norfolk Admirals. The Admirals came away with a road sweep of the Mariners, who boasted their third sellout crowd of the season on “Sea Dogs Crossover Night,” wearing Portland Sea Dogs inspired jerseys,
Norfolk struck twice on the power play to grab a 2-0 first period lead for the second night in a row. First, at 9:35, Danny Katic batted a rebound out of midair past Michael DiPietro to open the scoring. Then, at 14:21, Callum Fryer’s point blast beat DiPietro, doubling the Admirals lead.
The only goal of the second period came at 14:13, when Stepan Timofeyev whipped a pass from the bottom of the right circle to an open Denis Smirnov who cashed one into an open net to DiPietro’s right. In the period, Cam Askew and Fryer also dropped the gloves. Norfolk led 3-0 through two.
Still trailing 3-0 late into the third, Alex-Olivier Voyer got loose in front of Tomas Vomacka and pulled one around him to get Maine on the board at 15:36, taking helpers from Cam Askew and Nick Master. The Mariners then got a step closer with under 30 seconds left as Tyler Hinam threw one to the net, getting a goal in his third straight game. The Mariners simply ran out of time, however.
The Mariners pelted Vomacka with 18 shots in the third and 43 in the game. Michael DiPietro stopped 28/31 in the losing effort.
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