DUBNYK'S 42 SAVES LEADS FALCONS TO 2-1 WIN

February 22, 2008 - The Springfield Falcons beat the Portland Pirates 2-1 in a shootout on Friday night at  the MassMutual Center.  Falcons goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped 42 of 43 shots in regulation and all four in the shootout to earn the game's first star.

"This was a very good team win," said Dubnyk, who has started the last three games.  "I had a good week of practice with Edmonton Oilers goaltending coach Pete Peeters and I have really felt good playing right now.  It's a long season and you know your time will come to play and right now I am just happy we got the win."

The Falcons improved their record to 25-21-5-5 on the season and have a four point lead on the fourth and final playoff spot within the Atlantic Division.  Springfield has now earned at least a point in nine of their last 12 games and they will prepare to host the Providence Bruins on Saturday night.

The Falcons opened the scoring in the first period when forward Rob Schremp converted on the power play at 18:14  assisted by Viacheslav Trukhno and T.J. Kemp.  Springfield carried that lead into the third period.

"It was a tight game and every contest late in the year is going to be a close game," said Falcons head coach Kelly Buchberger, who has seen his team already surpass last year's point total in the standings.  "We can't get too high, we have a long weekend still ahead of us, we have two more tough games and we will be ready to go."

In the third period, Portland's Drew Miller tied the score at 1-1 when he tallied his ninth marker of the campaign at 5:22.  Dubnyk held the fort the remainder of regulation stopping 15 of 16 Pirates' shots in the final frame.

"Devan (Dubnyk) gave us a chance to win and we counted on him a lot tonight," said Buchberger.  "He has worked hard and it's nice to see him get rewarded."

GAME NOTES

The game was delayed about 15 minutes after Portland's bus arrived late to the arena due to the snow falling throughout New England.

The Falcons now have 60 points in the standings, one more than all of last year.

Newly acquired Grant Potulny arrived in Springfield around 4:30 pm after starting his commute from Hershey around 7 am.  Potulny had just enough time to arrive at the hotel, take a shower and get to the rink to meet his new teammates.

"It took a couple of periods to get my legs under me," said Potulny, who also played with Stephen Werner this season in Hershey.  "It was a good win, it felt good to get a win in my first game and I am just looking forward to helping out anyway I can."

FALCONS LINEUP

Schremp - Pouliot - Reddox
Potulny - Werner - Trukhno
Simon - O'Marra - McDonald
Almtorp - Bodie

Kemp - Rourke
Peckham - Gabinet
Berry - Young

Dubnyk
Deslauriers

FALCONS SCRATCHES - T.J. Reynolds (Injured), Tyler Spurgeon (Injured), Brad Farynuk (Injured), Les Reaney (Healthy), Stephane Goulet (Healthy), Sebastien Bisaillon (Injured), Jean-Francois Jacques (Injured), Chris Murray (Healthy), Jacob Micflikier (Injured), Tim Sestito (Injured)

GAME NIGHT NOTES………………

GAME SETUP: The Springfield Falcons and Portland Pirates meet for the seventh time this season when they get together at the MassMutual Center on Friday night.  The Falcons are 3-1-1-1 against the Pirates this season and the last meeting between these two Atlantic Division rivals was back on January 5 when Springfield beat Portland by a score of
2-1.  Five of the previous six meetings between the Falcons and Pirates have been decided by one goal. 

    Liam Reddox (2g, 2a, 4pts), Rob Schremp (1g, 3a, 4pts) and Ben Simon (1g, 3a, 4pts) all are tied for the Falcons lead in scoring against the Pirates this season.  Reddox, Troy Bodie, Marc Pouliot and Viacheslav Trukhno all have two goals against the Pirates this year.  Goaltender Jeff Deslauriers has played in all six games against Portland this season posting a 2.12 goals against average and .936 save percentage. 

    Andrew Ebbett leads Portland in scoring against Springfield this campaign with one goal and six assists for seven points in six games.  Ebbett was recalled by the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.  Jason King is tied with teammate Petteri Wirtanen for the Pirates’ lead in goals against the Falcons with three markers.  Goaltender Mike McKenna has a record of 2-1 with a 1.91 goals against average and .927 save percentage in three games against Springfield. 

    The Falcons enter tonight’s game in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 24-21-5-5 good for 58 points and a three point lead over the Manchester Monarchs for the final playoff spot within the division.  The Falcons have earned at least a point in eight of their last 11 games going 4-3-2-2 in that span.  Springfield has gone 2-2-1-0 in their last five games as they play the fourth contest in a five-game homestand continuing on Friday.  The Falcons host Providence on Saturday before heading to Worcester on Sunday night.

    The Pirates head into Springfield having lost their last game played by a score of 6-3 against the Hartford Wolf Pack last Saturday night.  Portland has won two of their last three contests and they remain in third place in the Atlantic Division standings with a record of 32-18-2-3 good for 69 points.  The Pirates will head to Worcester on Saturday before hosting the Norfolk Admirals on Sunday afternoon.

FALCONS TRANSACTIONS:  The Springfield Falcons, proud members of the American Hockey League, announced today that defenseman Danny Syvret has been reassigned by the Edmonton Oilers to the Hershey Bears and the Bears have loaned center Grant Potulny to the Falcons.

In 36 games with the Falcons this season, Syvret totaled one goal and seven assists for eight points and 14 penalty minutes.  The 5-foot-11, 203-pound native of Millgrove, Ontario also spent time with Team Canada and won a gold medal at this year’s Spengler Cup.  Syvret is in his third season of professional hockey and has played in a total of 26 career games with the Oilers registering one assist and 12 penalty minutes.

Potulny has played in 50 games with Hershey this season collecting 19 goals and 12 assists for 31 points and 71 penalty
minutes.  Potulny is currently second on the Bears in goals and seventh on the club in scoring.  The 6-foot-3, 204-pound native of Grand Forks, North Dakota is in his fourth full season of professional hockey after spending his collegiate career with the University of Minnesota from 2000-2004.  Potulny was originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the fifth round
(157th overall) in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft and he reached the 20-goal plateau while with the Binghamton Senators during
the 2005-06 campaign. 

The Edmonton Oilers recalled forward Patrick Thoresen from his conditioning assignment with the Springfield Falcons of
the American Hockey League and placed him on waivers on Thursday.  The 5-foot-11, 188-pound center  scored a goal and five assists with seven penalty minutes in six games with Springfield during his conditioning assignment. He has now scored 13-13-26 with 13 penalty minutes and is +6 in 29 games with the Falcons this season.

The 24-year-old native of Hamar, Norway has scored 2-1-3 with 6 PIM in 17 games with the Oilers this season after being
recalled from Springfield on December 1st. 

PORTLAND PIRATES PLAYER NOTES:  Portland center Geoff Platt has points in three straight games collecting one goal and two assists in that span….Andrew Ebbett was currently on a three-game scoring streak collecting three goals and three assists in that span before he was recalled to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday….Right wing Bobby Ryan has goals in back-to-back games and is also on a three-game scoring streak recording two goals and one assist.