FALCONS COME UP SHORT IN PORTLAND
January 20, 2012 - The Springfield Falcons lost to the Portland Pirates 5-3 on Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine. The Falcons continue their weekend on Saturday night when they host the Albany Devils at the MassMutual Center starting at 7 pm.
The Falcons fell behind early in the opening 20 minutes as Patrick O'Sullivan ended up on a breakaway just 34-seconds into the opening period and converted giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
The Falcons fell behind 2-0 just 3:10 into the first period as David Rundblad slid in from the right point and scored his third goal of the year on a nice forehand to backhand move at the top of the crease.
Springfield cut their deficit to 2-1 at 11:42 of the opening frame when Cam Atkinson tipped in Alexandre Giroux's slap shot on the power play.
Portland regained their two-goal lead at 17:56 of the first period when defenseman Nathan Oystrick pinched in from the blueline and one-timed a shot past Falcons goaltender Manny Legace.
In the second period, Portland expanded their advantage to 4-1 at 5:40 when O'Sullivan scored his second marker of the game, again on the breakaway. Just 1:07 after O'Sullivan's marker, Jordan Szwarz expanded Portland's advantage to 5-1 with his fourth goal of the year.
The Falcons cut their deficit to 5-2 at 8:45 of the middle session when Andrew Joudrey redirected a Brett Motherwell pass past Portland netminder Justin Pogge.
Matt Calvert added a third period power play goal for the Falcons, but that concluded the scoring for the night.
Friday's Lines
Matt Calvert - Martin St. Pierre - Cam Atkinson
Alexandre Giroux - Nick Drazenovic - Dane Byers
Maksim Mayorov - Andrew Joudrey - Wade MacLeod
Trevor Bruess - Ryan Garlock - Aaron Bogosian
Brent Regner - Dalton Prout
Theo Ruth - Greg Amadio
Patrick Cullity - Brett Motherwell
Manny Legace
Mark Dekanich
Not dressed: Adam Mair (Injured), Cody Goloubef (Injured), Nick Holden (Injured), Steven Delisle, Cody Bass (Injured), Anton Blomqvist, Tim Spencer
PREGAME NEWS - The Falcons had a busy day of transactions yesterday as they boarded the bus to Portland and here is a quick recap:
The Falcons added blueliners Brett Motherwell and Greg Amadio on Thursday. Amadio was acquired in a trade with the Grand Rapids Griffins in exchange for Mike Thomas. Motherwell was signed to a PTO after playing for the Falcons' ECHL affiliate, the Chicago Express. Amadio played with Alexandre Giroux and Andrew Joudrey in Hershey from 2008-2010 and was a member of back-to-back Calder Cup Championship teams. He is described as a strong physical presence on the blueline.
Also announced yesterday was the Columbus Blue Jackets signing of Brett Lebda, who had been with the Falcons since early November. Lebda joined the Blue Jackets last night.
On Friday, it was announced that Dane Byers was assigned to the Falcons and David Savard will also head back to Springfield for Saturday's game.
Falcons roster heading into tonight's action:
Defense - Steven Delisle, Dalton Prout, Greg Amadio, Brett Motherwell, Patrick Cullity, Theo Ruth, Brent Regner, Anton Blomqvist.
Forwards - Nick Drazenovic, Alexandre Giroux, Cam Atkinson, Ryan Garlock, Maksim Mayorov, Wade MacLeod, Andrew Joudrey, Aaron Bogosian, Tim Spencer, Matt Calvert, Trevor Bruess, Martin St. Pierre.
Goaltenders - Mark Dekanich, Manny Legace
PRE-GAME NOTES
- The Springfield Falcons remain in the thick of things in the very competitive Northeast Division. The Falcons have a record of 18-17-1-2 through 38 games and are only three points behind
- The Falcons shorthanded attack was the talk of the weekend as the team rattled off four shorthanded markers in back-to-back games against the Portland Pirates. Cam Atkinson collected two shorthanded goals, Ryan Garlock added one and Alexandre Giroux also added one.
- After not seeing a shootout through their first 27 games, the Falcons have been part of a shootout five times in their last 11 contests. The Falcons are 3-2 in the shootout this year. Cam Atkinson has scored on three of four attempts in the shootout this year, while Ryan Garlock is a perfect 1-1 in shootout attempts. For the season, the Falcons have 10 shootout goals in 30 total attempts.
- Andrew Joudrey had a three-game goal scoring streak from January 7-January 13.
- Maksim Mayorov has points in six of his last eight games played.
- Matt Calvert has points in six of his last seven games totaling four goals and three assists in that span.
- Martin St. Pierre has points in three straight games entering this weekend.
- Dalton Prout has points in three of his last four games totaling one goal and three assists in that span.
- The Falcons recently had their longest point streak of the season going 4-0-0-1 from January 6 – 14.
- Cam Atkinson has goals in four of his last five games collecting six markers in that span.
- Alexandre Giroux has points in five of his last six games collecting two goals and five assists in that span.
- Manny Legace has won his last three starts stopping 78 of 85 shots in that stretch for a .918 save percentage and a 2.33 goals against average.
