LEWISTON — The Portland Pirates couldn’t get out of their own way.

The team went to the penalty kill seven times and the St. John’s IceCaps scored once on the power play in a 5-1 victory at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Wednesday.

“We got out-worked, they won every battle, every race, and got out-competed,” Pirates coach Ray Edwards said. “We got beat by the better team tonight. We are a better team than we showed tonight.”

Carl Klingberg had two goals and an assist for St. John’s. Jason Jaffrey, Andrew Gordon and John Albert each had a goal and an assist.

St. John’s was first to strike as Carl Klingberg found the back of the net 2:22 into the contest. Andrew Gordon and Brenden Kichton set the marker up.

Albert stretched the lead to 2-0 with a snap shot from the slot after Klingberg fed him with a nice pass from the left circle. Blair Riley picked up the secondary marker at the 4:22 mark of the second period.

“Even when it’s 1-0 you regroup after the first period, you have to comeback out, and we just didn’t,” Edwards said. “We didn’t get enough from enough people tonight. We didn’t get a lot of B games tonight, we got a lot of C and D games.”

The IceCaps finally converted on the power play at the 7:30 mark of the second as Jaffrey found the back of the net for fourth time this season. Former Maine Black Bear Will O’Neill and Albert were credited with the assists.

Mark Visentin’s night in goal came to an end at the 14:16 mark of the middle frame when Gordon’s shot bounced off his glove into the net. Jaffrey and Kichton notched their second points of the night.

Visentin made 21 saves on 25 chances and was replaced by Louis Domingue who was called up in the afternoon from the Gwinnet Gladiators of the ECHL.  

“It wasn’t Visentin’s fault,” Edwards said of the four goals he let in. “We left him out to dry from two 5-on-3’s, to taking penalties, one undisciplined play, to miss assignments.  As (Phoenix Coyotes coach Dave Tippett) said the other night, it was a mercy-pulling.”

Domingue has appeared in three games with a 0-2 record for Gwinnett.  He also has a 3.01 goals against average and a .887 save percentage. He was called up due to an injury to backup goaltender Mike Lee.

Edwards wouldn’t go into the specifics, but it’s a lower body injury. Lee’s timetable to return to the line-up isn’t immediately known.

Domingue made 13 saves in relief.

Brandon Yip scored for the Pirates in the third period on a second effort as Edward Pasquale made the first stop. The goal came with 6:40 remaining in the contest. Gilbert Brule and Lucas Lessio had the assists.

Klingberg picked up his second goal of the evening 1:16 after the Yip goal.

The Pirates were 0-for-6 on the man advantage.

Edward Pasquale made 29 saves for St. John’s.

The two teams will meet again on Friday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee at 7 p.m.

“We will be excited to have a rematch and try to play better,” Edwards said. “We’ve got to play better and redeem ourselves.”