Portland, ME – Tyler Eckford knew he was going to score.

The Portland Pirates defenseman kept his head down, picked up his own rebound and drilled a slap shot past Worcester Sharks’ goaltender Harri Sateri for the game-winning goal in overtime.

“I was lucky enough that it came right back out to me and I just put my head down and hit it as hard as I could,” said Eckford. “My intention was to get pucks to the net. I wasn’t screwing around in overtime. I was just trying to hammer that shot as hard as I could.”

The Pirates extended their home-winning streak to five games and have earned a point in their last six games with a 4-3 victory over the Worcester Sharks in front of 5,218 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Despite winning the game, the Pirates were less than enthused with their performance after giving up a two-goal lead for the second consecutive game.

“Our third periods have to get better,” said Eckford, who scored two goals in the game. “It’s about consistency. We build a lead and then we just back off and play cautious. We need to put our foot down a bury teams when we have an opportunity.”

“We didn’t play well,” said Pirates head coach Ray Edwards. We lost battles. We lost races and we got out competed all over the ice. They’re a big strong team and we looked small, slow and weak.”

With the Pirates up 3-1, Worcester pulled to within a goal when Curt Gogol scored his third of the season, beating Pirates’ goaltender Curtis McElhinney with a chip shot upstairs at 8:34 of the third period.

Less than two minutes later, the Sharks tied the game, 3-3, when Tommy Wingels snapped a shot from the right hash mark past McElhinney.

“I thought we tried,” said Edwards. “I have no problem that with the fact that we tried. We just lost too many battles. We tried to go in there and compete, but just got beat. We’ve got to find a way to find a way to get more. We can’t continue to play like this and continue to earn points.”

In overtime, Sharks’ defenseman Taylor Doherty was whistled for holding, giving the Pirates only their third power play of the game.

With a faceoff in the offensive zone, Eckford’s first shot rebounded back to him and he fired another blast from the top of the circle by Sateri with 1:21 left in the extra frame.

Eckford scored the game’s opening goal, giving the Pirates the lead, 1-0, when he beat Sateri with a 60ft blast from the left point that left the Finnish goaltender visibly upset at 5:08 of the first period.

Seconds after the goal, Brett Hextall was called for high-sticking which put the Sharks on the power play.

Exactly one minute after the first goal of the game, the Sharks tied the game, 1-1, with a power-play goal as John McCarthy’s shot was redirected by Benn Ferriero.

Pirates’ rookie Andy Miele had his six-game point streak snapped two nights ago in Connecticut, but recorded a pair of goals — and added an assist in third period — in the second period as they took a 3-1 lead after two periods of play.

Miele has seven goals, 11 assists for 18 points in 13 games this season.

At 14:45, Miele caught a lucky break as Sateri couldn’t get his shot that was lobbing into the net as Miele hit the stick of a Sharks’ defender.

Less than three minutes later, Portland scored a power-play goal on their first opportunity as Nick Ross’ blast from the point ricocheted off the end boards to Miele for the one-timer, beating Sateri from below the left circle.

The Pirates were outshot in the game by nearly a two-to-one margin, 47-25, including 18-6 in the third period, but McElhinney was solid in net for his third win in his last four starts.

“We got taught a lesson in our own building, which was disappointing,” said Edwards. “We had a goaltender that stood on his head and we found a way to get two points.”

On Wednesday, the Pirates went 0-for-8 on the power play, but finished tonight 2-for-3, while Worcester was 1-for-5 with the man advantage.

“The one positive (tonight) was that our was able to score a couple goals,” said Edwards. “We’ve struggled the last few games on the power play so getting a couple tonight was a positive.”

NOTES: Justin Pogge returned to the lineup, serving as backup to Pirates’ starter Curtis McElhinney. Pogge missed four games with a lower-body injury… Former UMaine forward Ben Guite missed his eighth consecutive game with a broken right foot… Both Maine and Clarkson men’s ice hockey teams were in attendance. They will play tomorrow at the Cumberland County Civic Center.