FALCONS BEAT PIRATES 4-2
November 26, 2010 - The Springfield Falcons beat the Portland Pirates 4-2 on Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine. Mike Blunden's power play goal midway through the third period snapped a 2-2 deadlock and earned the Falcons their 11th win of the season. The Falcons now head home to host the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday night.
The Falcons entered Friday's game looking to snap a two-game losing streak and going up against a Portland team that was 9-0-1-0 on home ice this year. Springfield came out and played a very strong first period and took a 1-0 lead when Maksim Mayorov scored his seventh goal of the year just 2:13 into the opening session. The Falcons outshot the Pirates 12-10 in the first period.
In the second period, Portland battled back and tied the score at 1-1 when Paul Byron scored his fifth marker of the year at 8:04 of the middle frame. The first two periods were played at a very fast pace with no penalties issued through 40 minutes.
In the third period, the Falcons once again took a one-goal lead when Brent Regner converted on a two-on-one rush and scored his second goal of the year giving the Falcons a 2-1 lead at 4:25.
Portland would answer back when they were awarded the game's first power play and Mark Mancari took advantage converting on the man advantage at 9:12 of the final period evening the score at 2-2.
Just over one minute after Portland had tied the score, Blunden took advantage of Springfield's first power play of the night scoring his ninth marker of the year at 10:18 giving the Falcons a 3-2 lead. Matt Calvert added an empty net goal, his ninth goal on the campaign, closing out a 4-2 Falcons victory.
FALCONS LINEUP
Matt Calvert - Ben Guite - Maksim Mayorov
Dane Byers - Chris D'Alvise - Mike Blunden
Tyler Murovich - Trevor Frischmon - Steven Goertzen
Jay Pandolfo - Nick Tarnasky - Brent Regner
Grant Clitsome - Theo Ruth
John Moore - Nate Guenin
Cody Goloubef - David Savard
David LeNeveu
Gustaf Wesslau
NOT DRESSED TONIGHT: Nick Holden, Jonathan Sigalet, Tomas Kana, Kyle Neuber, Tom Sestito, Michael Ratchuk
Springfield Falcons 4 at Portland Pirates 2 - Status: Final
Friday, November 26, 2010 - Cumberland County Civic Center
Springfield 1 0 3 - 4
Portland 0 1 1 - 2
1st Period-1, Springfield, Mayorov 7 (Frischmon, Murovich), 2:13. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-2, Portland, Byron 5 (Tropp, Whitmore), 8:04. Penalties-No Penalties
3rd Period-3, Springfield, Regner 2 4:25. 4, Portland, Mancari 8 (Ellis, Gragnani), 9:12 (PP). 5, Springfield, Blunden 9 (D'Alvise, Byers), 10:18 (PP). 6, Springfield, Calvert 9 (LeNeveu), 19:37 (EN). Penalties-Pandolfo Spr (hooking), 7:24; Byron Por (holding), 9:50.
Shots on Goal-Springfield 12-6-5-23. Portland 10-12-8-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 1 / 1; Portland 1 / 1.
Goalies-Springfield, LeNeveu 7-5-1 (30 shots-28 saves). Portland, Enroth 5-4-0 (22 shots-19 saves).
A-4,881
Referees-Jeff Smith (49).
Linesmen-Landon Bathe (80), Joe Andrews (32).
PRE-GAME NOTES
The Falcons are 1-2 against the Pirates this year and it was Portland beating Springfield by a score of 4-2 in their most recent meeting on November 10. The Falcons beat the Pirates back on October 22 by a score of 6-2 using five third period goals in that win.
Portland continues to lead the Atlantic Division with a record of 13-4-1-0 good for 27 points. Portland has earned at least a point in five of their last six games going 4-1-1-0 in that stretch. Portland still hasn’t lost a game in regulation on home ice this year going 9-0-1-0 in their first 10 games at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
Rookie Luke Adam continues to lead the Pirates offense this year, along with teammate Mark Mancari. Adam is currently on recall to the Buffalo Sabres. Adam is tied with Mancari for the club lead in scoring with 19 points each, 11 goals and eight assists for Adam and seven goals and 12 assists for Mancari. Adam is second in the AHL in rookie scoring, while Springfield’s Matt Calvert is now third in the AHL’s rookie scoring race.
Portland has received strong goaltending this year from David Leggio and Jhonas Enroth. Leggio posted a record of 8-1-0 with a 2.48 goals against average and .922 save percentage while Enroth was on recall to the Buffalo Sabres. Enroth has a record of 5-3 with a 3.28 goals against average and .899 save percentage.
