enlarge Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Simon Ferguson of the Portland Pirates, left, shoots the puck wide in the first period Saturday night after slipping past Adam McQuaid and bearing down on goalie Tuukka Rusk of the Providence Bruins. Providence won 4-3 at the Civic Center.

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WHO: Portland Pirates at Hershey Bears

WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday

Providence rallied from a three-goal deficit Saturday night to pull out a 4-3 victory against the Portland Pirates before a sellout crowd of 7,216 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Matt Hendricks put in a shot from the far side of the left circle off a rush with less than two minutes left to win it for the Bruins.

"We were a little slow in the first period," Providence Coach Scott Gordon said. "We were still on the (All-Star) break. (Portland) played (Friday) night and I thought that was to their advantage."

It turned out to be a typical comeback for Providence, which has the best record in the AHL.

"We play at different levels," Gordon said. "The right intentions are there but there is a different speed that we play at. We played a slower speed in the first period than the third."

It was the second consecutive home loss for the Pirates, who play their next seven games on the road.

"It's a very easy way of letting my guys off the hook, saying we're playing a top team," Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. "At the end of the day we (were) a very fragile team. It almost looked like we were afraid to win to a certain extent."

The Pirates built a 3-0 lead in the first 21 minutes.

Portland took a 2-0 lead in the first period.

At 9:54, Petteri Wirtanen popped a close shot into the left side for his seventh goal of the season after Bobby Ryan took the puck from a defender against the end board and laid a pass from behind the net.

At 13:51, Ryan tipped in rookie defenseman Brett Festerling's blast from the left point for his 16th goal.

Stephen Dixon made it 3-0 when he hustled down the slot to poke in the rebound of Tyler Bouck's shot for his 12th goal 59 seconds into the second period.

"We played a solid 30 minutes of hockey, and then it starts with us trying to get cute," Dineen said. "We started to make these really fancy plays. We consider ourselves really special that we can make these high-end plays, and it comes back and it bites you."

The Bruins got back into it in the second period by cashing in on their first two power plays.

At 11:58, Sean Curry scored his 10th goal on a shot from the top of the slot five seconds after Jason King went off for hooking.

At 17:05, Pascal Pelletier, back with Providence after spending two weeks with Boston, slid a rebound inside the right post for his team-high 25th goal.

With less than 10 minutes left in the game, Jeff Hoggan converted T.J. Trevelyan's centering pass from behind the net into his 19th goal to make it 3-3.

"When you push, push, push and they push back, it's important how you respond," Dineen said. "Obviously we're not happy with their response."

NOTES: Former Portland Pirates defensemen Nathan Saunders and Dwayne Zinger were scratched from the Providence lineup for the game. ... During the second intermission, Tara Pierru of Eskason, Nova Scotia, put in a shot from the red line to win $1,200 in the Score-o contest.

Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com