FALCONS LOSE TO MONARCHS 5-2

March 2, 2008 - The Springfield Falcons lost to the Manchester Monarchs 5-2 on Sunday afternoon at the Verizon Wireless Arena.  The Falcons now lead the Monarchs by just two points in the Atlantic Division standings.   Rob Schremp opened the scoring at 8:01 of the first period when he capitalized on a fortunate bounce off the water bottle that was lying on the ice behind the net and tucked a quick shot past Manchester goaltender Jonathan Quick.


Manchester tied the score at 15:36 of the opening frame when Matt Ryan picked the pocket of Springfield's Stephen Werner behind the Falcons goal and tucked a shot past Springfield goaltender Jeff Deslauriers.

In the second period, Manchester's Gabe Gauthier helped build a 3-1 Monarchs lead when he scored his 22nd goal of the season at 2:56, followed by his second marker of the contest at 4:51 of the middle period.  Springfield cut their deficit to 3-2 when Viacheslav Trukhno scored on the power play at 17:05 of the second period.

The Falcons started the third period on a five-on-three penalty kill, and Manchester took advantage as Matt Moulson scored just 30-seconds into the final frame giving the Monarchs a 4-2 advantage.  Brady Murray added a power play goal at 5:32 of the third period giving Manchester a 5-2 win.

FALCONS LINEUP

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

Kemp - Young
Peckham - Gabinet
Berry - Farynuk

Deslauriers
Dubnyk

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

PRE-GAME NOTES

It maybe safe to say that Sunday is one of the most anticipated games the Springfield Falcons have played in the month of March in several years.  Springfield heads to Manchester this afternoon with a four point lead over the Monarchs for the final playoff spot within the Atlantic Division.  Both the Falcons and Monarchs recorded big wins on Saturday with Springfield beating third-place Portland and Manchester taking two points from second-place Hartford.

These two teams haven't played since February 18 when the Monarchs beat the Falcons in overtime by a score of 2-1.  Manchester's Troy Milam scored a pair of goals for the Monarchs in that contest, including the game-winner in overtime.  Theo Peckham tied the game late for Springfield back on February 18.

The Falcons are 2-2-2-0 against the Monarchs this season including 0-1-1-0 at the Verizon Wireless Arena.  Springfield hasn't played in Manchester since November 17 when the Falcons erased a 3-0 deficit and sent the game to overtime, only to see Manchester's Brian Boyle net the game-winner.

PRE-GAME TIDBITS

Following today's contest, the Falcons will not play again until Friday night when they host the Lowell Devils.

The Falcons finished the month of February with a record of 6-6-1-0.

Three of the Falcons' next four road games will be in Manchester.