FALCONS COME UP SHORT IN NORFOLK
March 2, 2012 - The Springfield Falcons dropped a 5-2 decision to the Norfolk Admirals at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia on Friday night snapping the Falcons' three-game winning streak and for Norfolk, it was their 11th straight victory. The Falcons saw the Admirals use three power play goals on the night. These same two teams will play again on Saturday evening in Norfolk starting at 7:15 pm.
The Falcons found themselves in some first period penalty trouble as David Savard was whistled for a five-minute major for boarding and picked up a game misconduct just seven minutes into the opening frame when he checked Cory Conacher along the end boards. That penalty forced the Falcons to play with five defensemen for the remaining 53 minutes of the game. Springfield found themselves on a five on three disadvantage a few minutes later and Norfolk took advantage as Michel Ouellet converted at 12:13 of the first period giving Norfolk a 1-0 lead.
"Losing David (Savard) early on hurt for sure," said Falcons head coach Rob Riley. "Norfolk is a very good team, a lot of skill and you can't give them too many power plays because they will take advantage and they did."
In the second period, the Admirals took a 2-0 lead when Mike Angelidis tallied his 13th goal of the year at 4:15, followed by Ouellet adding his second power play goal of the night at 12:48 of the middle frame giving Norfolk a 3-0 cushion. Late in the second period, Alexandre Picard put Norfolk on top 4-0 at 18:33 and sent the Admirals into the second intermission in the driver's seat.
The Falcons responded in the third period and cut into their deficit at 12:26 of the final frame when Matt Calvert tallied his 12th marker of the year moving Springfield to within 4-1. At 17:14 of the third period, Wade MacLeod dangled his way around multiple Norfolk defenders and slid one past Dustin Tokarski inching the Birds to within 4-2 with a power play goal.
"We kept battling, were able to score those two goals in the third and get some momentum," said Riley. "We will be back here tomorrow, obviously the two points is huge every night and we will look to get back at it Saturday."
Norfolk added their third power play goal of the night at 18:52 of final period when Philip-Michael Devos converted concluding a 5-2 Norfolk win.
Norfolk was 3-9 on the power play while Springfield was 1-5 on the man advantage.
FRIDAY'S LINEUP
Alexandre Giroux - Martin St. Pierre - Wade MacLeod
Matt Calvert - Andrew Joudrey - Nathan Longpre
Dane Byers - Cody Bass - Tomas Kubalik
Adam Mair - Ryan Garlock - Aaron Bogosian
Patrick Cullity - David Savard
Cody Goloubef - Greg Amadio
Brent Regner- Dalton Prout
Paul Dainton
Mike Spillane
Not dressed: Manny Legace (Injured), Anton Blomqvist, Nick Holden (Injured), Mark Dekanich (Injured), Nick Drazenovic (Injured), Theo Ruth, Tim Spencer, Maksim Mayorov (Sick)
Springfield Falcons 2 at Norfolk Admirals 5 - Status: Final
Friday, March 2, 2012 - Norfolk Scope
Springfield 0 0 2 - 2
Norfolk 1 3 1 - 5
1st Period-1, Norfolk, Ouellet 12 (Kostka, Devos), 12:13 (PP). Penalties-Cullity Spr (interference), 1:45; Conacher Nor (slashing), 4:54; Savard Spr (major - boarding, game misconduct - boarding), 7:15; Goloubef Spr (slashing), 12:03; Gudas Nor (tripping), 16:40.
2nd Period-2, Norfolk, Angelidis 13 (Picard, Ouellet), 4:15. 3, Norfolk, Ouellet 13 (Panik, Johnson), 12:48 (PP). 4, Norfolk, Picard 4 (Gudas, Jackson), 18:33. Penalties-Regner Spr (tripping), 7:15; Labrie Nor (roughing), 9:51; Longpre Spr (double minor - high-sticking), 12:03; Amadio Spr (tripping), 14:20; Byers Spr (roughing), 18:33; Angelidis Nor (roughing), 18:33.
3rd Period-5, Springfield, Calvert 12 (Joudrey), 12:26. 6, Springfield, MacLeod 6 (St. Pierre, Regner), 17:14 (PP). 7, Norfolk, Devos 5 (Neilson, Barberio), 18:52 (PP). Penalties-Jackson Nor (tripping), 9:57; Amadio Spr (roughing, roughing), 15:12; Labrie Nor (roughing), 15:12; Barberio Nor (hooking), 17:14; Kubalik Spr (tripping), 18:43.
Shots on Goal-Springfield 7-5-10-22. Norfolk 10-13-4-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 1 / 5; Norfolk 3 / 9.
Goalies-Springfield, Dainton 9-5-0 (27 shots-22 saves). Norfolk, Tokarski 26-11-0 (22 shots-20 saves).
A-4,353
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41), Chris Cozzan (18).
Linesmen-Jesse Pletsch (51), Tom George (61).
PREGAME NOTES - The Springfield Falcons and Norfolk Admirals drop the puck on Friday night at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia starting at 7:30 pm. The Falcons will be looking for their fourth straight win as they continue a five-game road trip that started last Sunday in Portland, Maine.
This will be the third meeting of the season between these two teams with the two clubs splitting a pair of games in Springfield on February 4-5. Springfield has won their last two games in Norfolk sweeping a weekend series last year in Virginia.
The Falcons remain in the playoff hunt entering this weekend as they sit two points behind the 8th and final playoff spot held today by the Albany Devils. Norfolk enters tonight's contest in first place in the Eastern Conference and they have won their last 10 straight contests overall.
The Springfield Falcons have 20 games remaining in the regular season, 7 home and 13 away as we head into March. The Falcons are 27-25-2-2 through 56 games and they are only 2 points behind in the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Falcons concluded February with a 5-2-1-0 record on home ice in 8 home contests.
The following is a breakdown of the Falcons remaining opponents: St. John’s (3), Bridgeport (3), Norfolk (2), Wilkes-Barre (2), Providence (2), Adirondack (2), Hershey (1), Manchester (1), Syracuse (1), Portland (1), Connecticut (1), Worcester (1).
The Falcons now have five different 3-game winning streaks this season.
Paul Dainton was outstanding this past weekend posting a perfect 3-0 record with a 0.97 GAA and .965 save percentage. He recorded his first AHL shutout on February 25 against the Connecticut Whale. Dainton became the first Falcons player to be named AHL Player of the Week since the 2007-08 season and Dainton also became the first Falcons goaltender to record three wins in three straight days since Scott Langkow accomplished the same streak in 1998.
Alexandre Giroux played in his 800th career pro game on 2-26 at Portland scoring goals 19 and 20 on the season. Giroux also tied Jim Bartlett for 8th on the AHL’s All-Time Goals List at 360 with his two markers on Sunday. Giroux led the Falcons in scoring in February with five goals and eight assists for 13 points in 12 games.
Martin St. Pierre finished February with two goals and nine assists for 11 points in 12 games played.
Captain Dane Byers has four goals and two assists for six points in his last six games.
Maksim Mayorov has three goals and three assists for six points in his last two games.
The Falcons penalty killing units were outstanding all weekend and over the last five games, the Falcons are a perfect 25 for 25 on the penalty kill.
