FALCONS BEAT THE DEVILS 4-2 AT THE NEST

March 7, 2008 - The Springfield Falcons beat the Lowell Devils 4-2 on Friday night at the MassMutual Center and now have a four point lead over the Manchester Monarchs for the fourth and final playoff spot within the Atlantic Division.  The Falcons are back at home on Saturday against the Hershey Bears. 


The Falcons started the game strong and jumped on the Devils early as Troy Bodie opened the scoring for the Falcons at 1:44 of the first period setting the tone in the opening frame.

The Falcons expanded their lead in the second period as Stephane Goulet scored at 8:35 of the middle frame, followed by Rick Berry tallying a shorthanded marker at 12:14 of the second period giving Springfield a 3-0 lead.  Viacheslav Trukhno added a power play goal at 17:22 of the second frame putting the Falcons on top 4-0 through 40 minutes of play.

The Devils cut their deficit to 4-2 in the third period on a pair of goals from their captain Stephen Gionta, but the Falcons held on for their 28th win of the season.

Falcons goaltender Jeff Deslauriers was very steady between the pipes earning the game's first star making 37 saves.

GAME NOTES

The game was delayed about 15 minutes due to a power failure inside of the arena right before pre-game warm-ups.

The first period was delayed about 8 minutes due to a glass break behind the Falcons goal.

FALCONS LINEUP

Potulny - Schremp - McDonald
Simon - Sestito - Almtorp
Trukhno - Reddox - Goulet
Werner - Bodie

Kemp - Young
Gabinet - Farynuk
Berry - Smith

Deslauriers
Dubnyk

FALCONS SCRATCHES - T.J. Reynolds (Injured), Les Reaney (Healthy), Sebastien Bisaillon (Injured), Ryan O'Marra (Injured), Allan Rourke (Injured), Jean-Francois Jacques (Injured), Jacob Micflikier (Healthy)

GAME NIGHT NOTES………………

GAME SETUP: The Springfield Falcons and Lowell Devils conclude their season series Friday night at the MassMutual Center.  The Falcons are 8-1-0-0 against the Devils this season with Springfield winning the last four contests against Lowell this year.  Three of the last four head-to-head match-ups have been decided by one goal and three of the last four contests between these two intra-state rivals have either gone to overtime or the shootout.  The Falcons power play has 10 power play goals in 36 opportunities against the Devils this season for a success rate of 27.8%, while Lowell has six markers in 41 power play opportunities against Springfield for a success rate of 14.6%.  Springfield has outscored Lowell 13-4 in the second period this year. 
   
Jean-Francois Jacques leads the Falcons in scoring against the Devils with six goals and five assists for 11 points in seven games, while Marc Pouliot is second with four goals and six assists for 10 points in nine games.  Rob Schremp is the Falcons active leader in scoring against the Devils with three goals and six assists for nine points in nine games.  Goaltender Jeff Deslauriers is 5-0 with a 1.94 goals against average and .937 save percentage in five games against Lowell this season.  Teammate Devan Dubnyk has a record of 3-1-0 with a 1.75 goals against average and .946 save percentage in four appearances against the Devils this campaign. 
  
 Noah Clarke leads the Devils in scoring against the Falcons this year with five goals and four assists for nine points in eight games.  Petr Vrana is second in points against Springfield with two goals and six assists for eight points in nine games.  Goaltender Frank Doyle has appeared in eight of the nine games against the Falcons this season posting a record of 1-5-2 with a 2.84 goals against average and .895 save percentage. 

The Falcons head back into action on Friday looking to rebound from a 5-2 loss suffered against the Manchester Monarchs on Sunday.  Springfield remains in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 27-25-5-5 good for 64 points and a two-point lead over the Monarchs for the final playoff spot.  Springfield will have back-to-back home games this weekend as they host Lowell on Friday, followed by the Hershey Bears visiting on Saturday.  The Falcons are
17-10-3-1 on home ice this season and they will play five of their next six games at the MassMutual Center.

The Devils head into Friday’s action having defeated the Hershey Bears 4-1 on Wednesday.  Lowell has won two of their last three games and they have also gone 4-2 in their last six contests.  The Devils have also earned at least a point in six of their last eight games going 5-2-1-0 in that span. 

WELL-DESERVED PROMOTIONS:  The Falcons announced Monday that center Marc Pouliot has been recalled by their National Hockey League affiliate, Edmonton Oilers.  Pouliot joined the Oilers in Edmonton for their game on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators.

Pouliot has played in 50 games with Springfield this season and has collected 20 goals and 22 assists for 42 points.  He is currently second on the Falcons in goals and points.  Pouliot was Springfield’s top scorer in February registering seven goals and seven assists for 14 points in 13 games.  He had a six-game scoring streak from February 2 – 16 and picked up at least a point in nine of 13 games in February.  Pouliot played in nine games with Edmonton earlier this season not picking up a point before being reassigned to the Falcons back on November 3.  Pouliot was drafted by the Oilers in the first round (22nd overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

The Falcons also announced Thursday that defenseman Theo Peckham has been recalled by the Oilers on an emergency basis.  Peckham has joined the Oilers in Columbus for their game on Friday against the Blue Jackets. 

Peckham is in his first professional campaign and he has played in 42 games with the Falcons this season collecting six goals and four assists for 10 points and 113 penalty minutes.  The 6-foot-2, 223-pound native of Richmond Hill, Ontario played the three previous seasons with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League.  Peckham had his most productive season offensively during the 2006-07 campaign where he registered 10 goals and 25 assists for 35 points and 173 penalty minutes in 53 games.  He was originally drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the third round (75th overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.   

LOWELL PLAYER NOTES:  Ivan Khomutov has recorded at least a point in three straight games collecting two goals and three assists in that span….Benoit Mondou has earned at least a point in six of his last seven games picking up four goals and five assists for nine points during that stretch.  Mondou registered a hat trick on February 26 at Manchester….Nicklas Bergfors has picked up a point in four of his last five games registering one goal and three assists in that span….Goaltender Dave Caruso has won his last three starts for the Devils, including a 40-save effort on Wednesday in a win against Hershey.