Portland hammer St.John’s 8-1, McKenna stops 23

Mike McKenna, seen here with the NHL's Blue Jackets, led the AHL's Portland Pirates to a 8-1 victory over the St. John's IceCaps on Friday. (Gary Wiepert/AP)

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Mike McKenna made 23 saves and eight different skaters found the back of the net as the Portland Pirates hammered the host St. John’s IceCaps 8-1 on Friday in American Hockey League play.

Jordon Southorn, Jordan Szwarz, Francis Wathier, Greg Carey, Jordan Martinook, Henrik Samuelsson, Joel Hanley and Darian Dziurzynksi supplied the offence for the Pirates (26-18-3), who led 3-0 after the first period.

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Kyle MacKinnon scored the lone goal for the IceCaps (19-22-7).

Connor Hellybuyck started in net for St. John’s but was yanked after allowing three goals on 11 shots in 16:47 of action. Jussi Olkinuora kicked out 17-of-22 shots in relief.

Portland went 0 for 2 on the power play while the IceCaps scored once on three chances with the man advantage.

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