Portland 7

Cape Elizabeth 5

The Cape Elizabeth hockey team saw their five-goal lead turn into a two-goal loss Monday afternoon, falling 7-5 to Portland at Portland Ice Arena. Nicholas Luce and Samson Guimond each had three goals for the Bulldogs who scored five times in the third period.

“You need to play three periods,” said Cape coach Jason Tremblay. “We stopped skating. That goal at the end of the second was how we played in the third period. They have some goal scorers and when you give them chances, they are going to bury it and that’s how they beat us. We never should have lost that game. That’s a game that was gift wrapped in the third period for them and they took advantage of it.”

The Capers looked to have things well in hand after a trio of first period goals that came in the span of three minutes. The first goal came when Max Foner grabbed a loose puck in the Portland zone. He skated toward the left circle and fired a wrist shot that rippled the mesh for a 1-0 Cape lead.

Less than two minutes later the lead doubled. Sam St. Germain deflected the puck underneath Portland goalie Zach Meoli. The puck trickled across the goal line for a 2-0 lead.

The Capers got their second power play opportunity of the game shortly after that goal. Marshall Rodick was sent to the box for slashing. Just 20 seconds into the man advantage, Peter Kelley got the puck behind Portland’s net. He fired a pass to Zack Labbe who stuffed the puck home and Cape had a 3-0 lead.

In the second period, the Capers stretched their lead. Just 2:11 into the period Mike Holden found the back of the net. Holden looked to dump the puck into the offensive zone but it ended up heading for the goal. As Meoli moved across to play the puck he misjudged it and deflected between his own legs and into the goal.

The Capers scored their fifth goal just 17 seconds later. It was Labbe again who snuck the puck between Meoli and the pipe for a seemingly insurmountable 5-0 Cape lead.

Two penalties just 12 seconds apart gave Portland a two-man advantage. Luce gathered the puck behind the Cape net and brought it around the front. When he reached the slot he fired and Portland was on the board. But the Capers still had a 5-1 lead.

Portland cut into the lead again with 35.8 seconds left in the period. There was a scramble in front of the net and Luce buried the puck and Cape’s lead was down to three.

The Bulldogs scored again early in the third. Joe Quattrucci stole the puck in the neutral zone and skated into the attacking zone. He faked one way then the other before scoring to make it a 5-3 game.

Portland cut the deficit to just a single goal just five minutes into the third when Luce finished off his hat trick on a scrum in front of the net. Two-and-a-half minutes later, Guimond tied it with his first goal of the afternoon.

“We played great in the first and second until the last 30 seconds of the second,” Tremblay said. “In the third we played awful. We played right into their hands. We played weak in the defensive zone. We were watching them and you can’t watch guys like Luce and Guimond they are going to beat you all night long if you do. We held them in check the first two after that they dominated the third.”

Guimond gave Portland the lead with 6:15 to play. Luce sent a pass across the ice to Guimond who fired and found the top corner of the net.

The Capers had a chance to tie the game late in the third when they had a power play chance and Tremblay pulled his goalie. But they couldn’t net the equalizer. In fact, Guimond finished his hat trick with an empty net goal.

The Capers drop to 8-9 with the loss. They were scheduled to face York on Thursday.