PENALTY FILLED SATURDAY NIGHT IN HARTFORD
October 10, 2009 - The Springfield Falcons lost to the Hartford Wolf Pack 7-3 on Saturday night at the XL Center in Hartford, CT concluding a three-game road trip. The Falcons will now be off from game action until they host the Manchester Monarchs on Friday, October 16 at the MassMutual Center.
The Wolf Pack built a 3-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of the first period as Nigel Williams, Corey Locke and Pierre Parenteau all scored for Hartford to ignite their home opening night crowd. After settling their game down, the Falcons responded with a pair of goals as Geoff Paukovich and Ryan Potulny converted for the Falcons cutting their deficit to 3-2 after 20 minutes of play.
"We knew Hartford would come out in the first 10 minutes and play with alot of energy because it was their home opener," said Falcons head coach Rob Daum. "We were able to bounce back and get ourselves in the hockey game, but we gave it right back with the penalties we would take as the game went on."
It was a very spirited first period as Kip Brennan and Brent Henley dropped the gloves, followed by Jake Taylor dropping the gloves with Patrick Rissmiller after Rissmiller hit Potulny from behind.
The Falcons were 1-3 on the power play in the first period, while Hartford was 2-5. Liam Reddox and Hartford goaltender Matt Zaba collided at the end of the first period, once again drawing several players into an altercation and giving Hartford a two-man advantage starting the second period.
In the second period, Hartford took advantage of another power play as Locke scored his second marker of the game just 47-seconds into the middle frame giving the Wolf Pack a 4-2 lead. The Falcons cut their deficit to 4-3 at 3:08 of the second period when Chris Armstrong scored on the man advantage, but Hartford regained a two-goal advantage at 11:12 on the power play when Parenteau scored his second goal of the contest.
The Pack added a pair of third period goals, including Parenteau's third of the game concluding a wild night of scoring.
It was a special teams night at the XL Center as Springfield was 2-9 on the power play, while Hartford was 4-11. The two teams combined for 96 penalty minutes, 50 for Springfield and 46 for Hartford.
FALCONS LINEUP
Slava Trukhno - Ryan Potulny - Liam Reddox
Charles Linglet - Adam Henrich - Chris Minard
Kip Brennan - Ryan O'Marra - Colin McDonald
Ryan MacMurchy - Geoff Paukovich - Colton Fretter
Taylor Chorney - Chris Armstrong
Dean Arsene - Jake Taylor
Johan Motin - Theo Peckham
Devan Dubnyk
Aaron Sorochan
FALCONS SCRATCHES - Matt Nickerson (Healthy), Bryan Lerg (Healthy), Alex Plante (Healthy), Cody Wild (Healthy)
PRE-GAME TIDBITS
- Hartford is off to an 0-2 start, while the Falcons are 1-2 on the young season.
- Both Taylor Chorney and Chris Minard are tied for the league lead in points on the season with five points each, two goals and three assists.
- Falcons goaltender Devan Dubnyk is expected to start his fourth straight game tonight. Dubnyk already leads the league in saves with 102 and is third in minutes played with 159.
- The Falcons penalty killing unit remains strong operating at a 91.7% success rate, while Hartford enters tonight's contest with 55.6% success rate on the penalty kill.
- Both Springfield and Hartford have been strong on the power play in the early part of the season with the Falcons operating at a 31.3% success rate on the season, while Hartford has a 30% success rate on the man advantage.
- Taylor Chorney and Chris Minard have collected at least a point in all three Falcons games.
- Colin McDonald and Ryan O'Marra each have one goal and one assist in their last two games.
