FALCONS AND WOLF PACK NEED OVERTIME
December 27, 2009 - The Springfield Falcons battled back in the third period and earned a point losing in overtime to the Hartford Wolf Pack by a score of 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at the MassMutual Center. It was an entertaining matinee of hockey as the Falcons had two one-goal leads in the first period, while Hartford was protecting a one-goal edge into the final stanza.
The Falcons started strong and carried the play in the first period opening the scoring at 8:14 of when Chad Wiseman converted a Liam Reddox pass. Springfield's lead was short-lived as Hartford's Andres Ambuhl tied the score at 1-1 just one-minute later when he snapped a wrist shot past Falcons goaltender J.P. Levasseur.
The Falcons once again regained their one-goal lead on the power play when Nikita Kashirsky ended up on a breakaway and backhanded a shot past Hartford goaltender Steve Valiquette at 13:54 of the opening period. The goal was Kashirsky’s first AHL goal and first marker as a member of the Falcons in only his second game with Springfield. Once again, Hartford evened the score when Brodie Dupont scored his seventh marker of the year at 18:25 of the opening session.
There were a pair of fights in the opening 20-minutes as Kip Brennan and Mike Hoffman went toe-to-toe, followed by Alex Plante and Devin DiDiomete dropping the gloves.
In the second period, Hartford scored the game's lone goal of the period when Pierre Parenteau tallied his 11th goal on the campaign at 10:12.
With the Falcons trailing by one in the closing minutes of the third period, Bill Thomas picked the pocket of Valiquette and set up Colton Fretter for the game-tying goal. Springfield ended up on a power play late in regulation, but Hartford's penalty killing units did the job.
In the overtime, Wolf Pack forward and AHL scoring leader Corey Locke converted on the game-winner.
THREE STARS
1. Locke - Hartford (1 goal, 1 assist)
2. Thomas - Springfield (2 assists)
3. Parenteau - Hartford (1 goal, 1 assist)
FALCONS LINEUP
Charles Linglet - Nikita Kashirsky - Colton Fretter
Liam Reddox - Chad Wiseman - Bill Thomas
Kip Brennan - Geoff Paukovich - Slava Trukhno
Ryan MacMurchy - Ryan O'Marra - Colin McDonald
Dean Arsene - Alex Plante
Bryan Young - Cody Wild
Taylor Chorney - Jake Taylor
J.P. Levasseur
Aaron Sorochan
FALCONS SCRATCHES - J.F. David (Injured), Matt Nickerson (Healthy), Johan Motin (Healthy), Chris Minard (Injured), Bryan Lerg (Healthy), Theo Peckham (Injured), Chris Armstorng (Injured)
