HARTFORD, Conn. – For a few seconds, Alex Biega considered the idea of practicing on Easter Sunday. But in the moments after the Portland Pirates closed out their American Hockey League first-round playoff series Saturday night against the Connecticut Whale, the Pirates defenseman didn’t have to worry about a Sunday morning skate.

The Pirates earned themselves a day off by eliminating the Whale with a 6-4 victory at Hartford’s XL Center, so instead of preparing for a seventh game tonight in Portland, the Pirates can start getting ready for a second-round series against the Binghamton Senators, starting Wednesday at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Portland fell behind early in Game 6 against Connecticut but wiped out a 2-0 deficit with a four-goal second period.

“We had an opportunity to close it out, and we executed,” said Biega, who scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period.

The Pirates will host the first two games against the Senators on Wednesday and Thursday before the series shifts to Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton, N.Y.

Game 3 is Saturday, and Game 4 is next Monday, with a fifth game scheduled for next Tuesday in Binghamton if necessary.

Games 6 and 7 would be May 6-7 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

In their six-game series against Connecticut, the Pirates struggled on special teams — finishing 5 for 36 on the power play and 23 for 31 in penalty killing. Portland won the first two games at home, lost Games 3 and 4 in Hartford, then won Games 5 and 6.

“We were really composed as a team,” said Pirates center Paul Byron, who scored two goals in Game 6. “We’ve been down by a couple goals before and no one panicked.”

Game 6 was a microcosm of the series, which seesawed back and forth.

“That’s just playoff hockey,” Byron said. “Teams have to do good, but they don’t have to panic. Keep playing. Keep pushing it. Games aren’t won in one period. There’s 60 minutes of hockey in the playoffs.”

Binghamton, the fifth-place team in the East Division, rallied from a 3-1 series deficit against the Manchester Monarchs and got all four of its wins in overtime, including Saturday’s 6-5 victory in Game 7.

Binghamton center Ryan Potulny is the league’s leading scorer so far in the playoffs with eight goals and six assists. He scored the winning goal in Game 7 — the fifth game of that series to go to overtime.

We felt like people had written us off and kind of quit on us,” Senators captain Ryan Keller told the Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin after Saturday’s win.

“We’ve got a group in there that’s gritty and sticks together. Nobody turned on each other, and the way the games went — blowing leads, coming back — it says a lot about the character in the room. We didn’t quit. We kept coming and found a way.”

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be contacted at 791-6415 or at:

rlenzi@pressherald.com