FALCONS ONE SHORT AGAINST WHALE
March 23, 2011 - The Springfield Falcons built a two goal lead Wednesday night, but the Connecticut Whale came back with three unanswered goals of their own to skate away with a 3-2 win over the Falcons at the XL Center. Rookies Wade MacLeod and Paul Dainton both made their AHL debuts on Wednesday night with MacLeod scoring a goal and Dainton stopping 31 of 34 shots.
The Falcons night started out well as MacLeod scored his first goal as a pro in his first period as a pro giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead at 18:02 of the first period. MacLeod signed an ATO contract on Monday, had his first practice with the Falcons on Tuesday and made his AHL debut on Wednesday. MacLeod recently finished his collegiate career with Northeastern University.
Dainton, who signed an ATO contract Monday, was impressive making his first AHL/Pro start Wednesday night. Dainton recently completed his college career at UMass-Amherst.
In the second period, the Falcons built a 2-0 lead at 8:59 when Cody Goloubef tallied his fifth goal of the year assisted by Tomas Kubalik and Trevor Smith. Connecticut cut their deficit to 2-1 when Derek Couture scored his second marker of the year at 11:52 of the second period.
In the third period, Connecticut started the frame with a power play and Dale Weise took advantage as he tied the score at 2-2 with a power play marker just 54-seconds into the final period. With the game deadlocked midway through the third period, John Mitchell converted at 11:17 giving the Whale their first lead of the night at 3-2. The goal marked the second time this month that Mitchell tallied a late third period goal against the Falcons leading Connecticut to victory.
TONIGHT'S LINEUP
Wade MacLeod - Ben Guite - Nikita Filatov
Trevor Smith - Greg Moore - Tomas Kubalik
Aaron Bogosian - Trevor Frischmon - Steven Goertzen
Petr Kalus - Nick Tarnasky - Kyle Neuber
Nick Holden - David Savard
Jonathan Sigalet - Cody Goloubef
John Moore - Theo Ruth
Paul Dainton
David LeNeveu
NOT IN THE LINEUP - Tomas Kana, Chris D'Alvise (Injured), Maksim Mayorov (Columbus), Mike Commodore, Brent Regner, Kyle Wilson (Injured), Anton Blomqvist, Gustaf Wesslau (Sick)
MAYOROV RECALLED BY BLUE JACKETS
COLUMBUS, OHIO – The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled left wing Maksim Mayorov from the Springfield Falcons, Columbus' American Hockey League affiliate, club Executive Vice President and General Manager Scott Howson announced March 23. Mayorov, who will turn 22 on Saturday, has appeared in seven career NHL games with the Blue Jackets, including three in 2008-09 and four in 2009-10.
The Andizhan, Russia native was the Blue Jackets' fifth pick, 94th overall, in the 2007 Entry Draft. He has registered 52 goals and 42 assists for 94 points with 70 penalty minutes in 210 career AHL games with the Falcons and Syracuse Crunch since the start of the 2008-09 season. This year, he has tallied 18-13-31 and 16 penalty minutes in 65 games with Springfield.
PRE-GAME NOTES: The Falcons are looking for their first win in the month of March. Springfield is currently in 6th place in the Atlantic Division with 65 points. The Whale head into this week holding onto the third and final guaranteed playoff spot with 80 points. Connecticut is currently riding a three-game winning streak.
Falcons forward Tomas Kubalik leads the team in scoring against the Whale this year with three goals and three assists, for six points in eight games. Springfield defenseman John Moore has one goal and three assists in eight games versus Connecticut. Goaltender David LeNeveu has been between the pipes in seven of the eight games this season against the Whale racking up a 3-4 record with a 2.62 GAA and a .899 save percentage.
Connecticut center Kris Newbury leads the Whale with two goals and six assists, good for eight points in just six games against Springfield this season. Newbury has had quite a month recording six goals and six assists, for 12 points in nine games in March. Center Evgeny Grachev has three goals and three assists, for six points in six games versus the Falcons this year. Last Sunday, goalie Cameron Talbot recorded his first win against Springfield after letting up one goal on 23 shots in a 3-1 Connecticut win.
