PORTLAND — The Portland Pirates reassigned goaltender Mark Visentin to the ECHL’s Gwinnet Gladiators Thursday.

In an unrelated move, the NHL parent Phoenix Coyotes assigned veteran right wing Nick Johnson to the Pirates.

A lower-body injury has kept Visentin, who is in rookie season, out of the Portland lineup for the past month.

“Hopefully, he’ll get a couple of games in down there and then we’ll go from there,” Portland head coach Ray Edwards said.

“He hasn’t played in a month, basically, and he needs to get the feel for it.”

The Gladiators are scheduled to play games Friday and Sunday.

In 22 games with the Pirates, Visentin is 11-9-1 with a 2.85 goals against average and a .909 saves percentage.

Johnson, who played two games for the Pirates this season during the week following the Jan. 14 end of the NHL lockout, has scored four goals and two assists in while appearing in 17 games for the Coyotes.

A 2008 graduate of Dartmouth College, Johnson previously had played in the NHL for the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Minnesota Wild. 
 


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