FALCONS BEAT PIRATES 3-2
January 27, 2012 - The Springfield Falcons won their second straight game beating the Portland Pirates 3-2 on Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine. The Falcons used an outstanding goaltending performance by Paul Dainton, as he made 29 saves and earned the game's first star. The Falcons will next head to Hartford, CT on Saturday to battle the Connecticut Whale starting at 7pm.
The Falcons came out and had a fast start to the first period outshooting the Pirates 9-4 in the opening 20 minutes and also building a 1-0 lead. The Falcons opened the scoring at 9:44 of the first period when Cam Atkinson tipped in Brent Regner's slap shot putting Springfield on top first. For Atkinson, it was his 24th goal of the year tying him for the AHL lead in goals. The first period marker also tied Atkinson with Tomas Kubalik for the third highest goal total by a Falcons rookie in a single season.
In the second period, Portland evened the score at 1-1 when Cal O'Reilly tallied his first goal of the year for the Pirates at 5:57. The Falcons regained their lead at 9:46 of the middle frame when Dalton Prout fired home a slap shot on the power play giving the Falcons a 2-1 advantage through 40 minutes of play. Dainton helped maintain the one goal lead for the Falcons making 12 straight saves to end the second frame, including making a flashy pad save on a Alexandre Bolduc breakaway with two minutes remaining in the second period.
In the third period, Portland came out fast and furious again applying a lot of pressure on Dainton, but the rookie goaltender again came up big making a glove save on Ethan Werek at the top of the crease. A few minutes later, Dainton also robbed Jordan Szwarz with a beautiful pad save going from the left post to the right post.
At 6:10 of the third period, Michael Stone evened the score at 2-2 when he scored his sixth marker on the year. The Falcons once again took a one goal lead at 12:20 of the final frame when David Savard's pass attempt to Tomas Kubalik went off a Portland defender and past Pirates netminder Jordan Pogge giving Springfield a 3-2 advantage.
Dainton continued to hold down the fort and maintain a one goal lead. In the game's final minute, the Falcons had a wild scramble looking for an empty net goal to close out the win, but in the end, Dainton and the Falcons skated away with a 3-2 victory.
The Falcons are 4-1-0-1 against the Pirates this season, including 2-1 in Portland.
Friday's Lines
Matt Calvert - Martin St. Pierre - Cam Atkinson
Alexandre Giroux - Nick Drazenovic - Tomas Kubalik
Maksim Mayorov - Andrew Joudrey - Dane Byers
Aaron Bogosian - Ryan Garlock - Wade MacLeod
David Savard - Brent Regner
Dalton Prout - Anton Blomqvist
Theo Ruth- Patrick Cullity
Paul Dainton
Allen York
Not dressed: Adam Mair (Injured), Cody Goloubef (Injured), Nick Holden (Injured), Cody Bass (Injured), Greg Amadio (Injured), Mark Dekanich (Injured), Manny Legace (Injured), Tim Spencer
Springfield Falcons 3 at Portland Pirates 2 - Status: Final
Friday, January 27, 2012 - Cumberland County Civic Center
Springfield 1 1 1 - 3
Portland 0 1 1 - 2
1st Period-1, Springfield, Atkinson 24 (Regner, Calvert), 9:44. Penalties-Savard Spr (slashing), 0:52; Summers Por (holding), 12:55; Eckford Por (hooking), 16:32.
2nd Period-2, Portland, O'Reilly 1 (O'Sullivan), 5:57. 3, Springfield, Prout 3 (Calvert, St. Pierre), 9:45 (PP). Penalties-Regner Spr (tripping), 2:34; Oystrick Por (interference), 7:46; Oystrick Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 9:45; Savard Spr (holding), 12:56.
3rd Period-4, Portland, Stone 6 (Watkins, O'Sullivan), 6:10. 5, Springfield, Savard 3 (Kubalik, Giroux), 12:20. Penalties-Garlock Spr (boarding), 9:41; Giroux Spr (tripping), 16:07.
Shots on Goal-Springfield 9-5-5-19. Portland 4-13-14-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 1 / 4; Portland 0 / 5.
Goalies-Springfield, Dainton 3-2-0 (31 shots-29 saves). Portland, Pogge 9-6-3 (19 shots-16 saves).
A-4,715
Referees-Francis Charron (46).
Linesmen-Landon Bathe (80), Joe Andrews (32).
PREGAME NOTES
· Cam Atkinson has points in six of his last nine contests picking up eight goals in that stretch. Atkinson is fifth in the AHL in rookie scoring with 23 goals and 10 assists for 33 points in 39 games. He is also second among all league rookies in goals.
· Cam Atkinson already has the fourth highest goal total by a Falcons rookie through 39 games played. Atkinson tied Jeff Taffe for 4th on the list, Taffe collected 23 goals for the Falcons in 02-03. Tomas Kubalik has the third highest goal total by a Falcons rookie set last year when he notched 24 markers. Jason Jaspers is second on the list with 25 goals in 01-02 and Daniel Briere is tops on the list with 36 set during his rookie year of 1997-98.
· Nick Drazenovic returned to the lineup on January 20 after missing 18 games due to injury. Drazenovic collected one goal and one assist in the three games this past weekend and played in his 300th career pro game on January 21 against Albany.
· Alexandre Giroux has points in 8 of his last 10 games collecting five goals and six assists in that span.
· Matt Calvert has points in eight of his last 11 games collecting five goals and four assists in that span.
· Martin St. Pierre has points in six of his last seven games totaling one goal and five assists in that span.
· Tomas Kubalik has points in five of his last seven games totaling five goals and two assists.
