FALCONS FALL TO PIRATES 4-1
January 7, 2011 - The Springfield Falcons lost to the Portland Pirates 4-1 on Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine. Nikita Filatov scored Springfield's lone goal as the Falcons now look to rebound on Saturday night when they host the Charlotte Checkers at the MassMutual Center starting at 7 pm.
Both teams came out and played a very even first period with each team exchanging scoring chances, but neither club able to grab the lead in the opening frame.
In the second period, Portland would use a goal early and a pair late in the stanza to take control of the game. Dennis Persson opened the scoring at 4:40 of the second period when his slap shot from the left point found the back of the bet. With the Falcons trying to find the equalizer throughout the middle period, it was Portland that built upon their lead when Maxime Legault tallied his sixth goal of the year at 18:39 of the second period. The Pirates took a 3-0 lead just 22-seconds later when Marc-Andre Gragnani tallied his seventh marker on the campaign.
The Pirates didn't have a let down in the third period as Mark Mancari scored just 11 seconds into the final frame giving Portland a 4-0 cushion. Filatov scored for the Falcons late in the final stanza, but that would be the end of the scoring on the night.
GAME NOTES
Trevor Smith made his Falcons debut playing with Mike Blunden and Tom Sestito.
The Falcons are 2-3 against the Pirates this year, including 1-2 in Portland.
Matt Calvert made his NHL debut Friday night in Anaheim as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
FALCONS LINEUP
Dane Byers - Ben Guite - Tomas Kubalik
Tom Sestito - Trevor Smith - Mike Blunden
Nick Tarnasky - Trevor Frischmon - Steven Goertzen
Maksim Mayorov - Chris D'Alvise - Nikita Filatov
Grant Clitsome - David Savard
John Moore - Theo Ruth
Nick Holden - Jonathan Sigalet
David LeNeveu
Gustaf Wesslau
NOT DRESSED TONIGHT: Michael Ratchuk, Tomas Kana, Kyle Neuber, Cody Goloubef, Brent Regner
Springfield Falcons 1 at Portland Pirates 4 - Status: Final
Friday, January 7, 2011 - Cumberland County Civic Center
Springfield 0 0 1 - 1
Portland 0 3 1 - 4
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Gragnani Por (tripping), 2:40.
2nd Period-1, Portland, Persson 3 (Bowers), 4:50. 2, Portland, Legault 6 (Biega, Brennan), 18:39. 3, Portland, Gragnani 7 (Byron), 19:01. Penalties-Biega Por (hooking), 2:06; Filatov Spr (hooking), 10:57; Roloff Por (high-sticking), 13:10; Tarnasky Spr (boarding), 15:34.
3rd Period-4, Portland, Mancari 16 (McCauley, Ellis), 0:11. 5, Springfield, Filatov 2 (Mayorov, D'Alvise), 13:33. Penalties-Frischmon Spr (interference), 7:34; Holden Spr (slashing), 10:44; Byron Por (hooking), 14:02.
Shots on Goal-Springfield 8-6-9-23. Portland 8-19-10-37.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 0 / 4; Portland 0 / 4.
Goalies-Springfield, LeNeveu 10-10-2 (37 shots-33 saves). Portland, Enroth 11-10-1 (23 shots-22 saves).
A-3,369
Referees-Jean Hebert (43).
Linesmen-Jeremy Lovett (78), Landon Bathe (80).
PRE-GAME NOTES - The Springfield Falcons get back into game action on Friday night after having a full week of practice to prepare for three games in three days this weekend. The Falcons haven't played a game since beating the Manchester Monarchs by a score of 3-1 back on January 1 at the MassMutual Center. The Falcons have earned at least a point in six of their last seven games going 4-1-0-2 in that span improving their record to 16-15-1-3 on the season.
The Falcons had one of their busiest weeks of transactions this past week as three players that were on the Springfield roster last week are no longer on it, while the Falcons also welcomed a new face to the lineup. The busy transaction week started on Tuesday with Columbus trading defenseman Nate Guenin to Anaheim in exchange for forward Trevor Smith. On Wednesday, forward Tyler Murovich was assigned to Reading of the ECHL and on Thursday, Matt Calvert was recalled to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
PRE-GAME NOTES - The Springfield Falcons and Portland Pirates meet for the fifth time this season when they get together on Friday night in Portland, Maine. The Falcons are 2-2 against the Pirates this year including 1-1 in Portland. The season series has gone back and forth thus far with the two teams exchanging wins through the first four games.
Matt Calvert and Ben Guite lead the Falcons in scoring against the Pirates this year with one goal and three assists each. Tom Sestito has three goals in three games against Portland this year. Mark Mancari leads Portland in scoring against the Falcons this year with three goals and three assists for six points in four games. Luke Adam is currently on recall to the Buffalo Sabres and he has two goals and four assists for six points in three games against Springfield.
Portland remains one of the top teams in the Atlantic Division with a record of 18-11-4-1 good for 41 points and third place in the division. Portland is 0-1-2-0 in their last three games, but they remain a dominate team at home this year going 10-2-3-1 on home ice.
