FALCONS EARN POINT AGAINST PENGUINS
March 11, 2012 - The Springfield Falcons earned another point in the standings with a hard-fought 4-3 shootout loss to the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins on Sunday afternoon at the MassMutual Center. The Falcons have earned at least a point in their last four home games going 3-0-0-1 in that span and the Birds have inched to within two points of the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 14 games remaining in the regular season.
Sunday's point against the Penguins was a nice rebound for the Falcons after Friday's setback in Manchester. Springfield took three out of a possible four points in the last 36 hours on home ice staying in the playoff hunt with a win over Syracuse Saturday and the point on Sunday.
The Penguins opened the scoring early in the first period as Alexandre Picard tallied his fifth goal of the year just 1:56 into the opening frame giving Wilkes-Barre a 1-0 lead. Just 20-seconds after Picard put the Penguins on top, Nate Longpre tied the score at 1-1 with his first goal in a Falcons uniform set up by Cody Bass sliding a backhand past Patrick Killeen.
The scoring continued fast and furious in the first period as Ryan Craig tallied just over a minute after Longpre's marker giving Wilkes-Barre a 2-1 lead and concluding a stretch of three goals in the first five minutes of the opening frame.
In the second period, the Falcons used a pair of power play goals from Alexandre Giroux to take a 3-2 lead. Giroux's first power play strike came at 1:57 of the middle frame when his slap shot from the right point found the back of the net. Giroux knocked home a rebound at the top of the crease at 17:36 for his second marker on the man advantage and giving the Falcons their first lead of the night.
Late in the middle frame, Penguins forward Steve MacIntyre ignited a big altercation when he landed some punches on Falcons goaltender Paul Dainton after a stoppage in play for a delayed penalty. All 10 skaters on the ice got involved and it escalated again a few minutes later when the 6'5" MacIntyre again landed some punches on the 5'10" Dainton. At the end of the brawl, the Falcons went on an eight minute power play that carried into the third period.
In the final period, Wilkes-Barre's penalty killers did the job keeping the Falcons scoreless during the man advantage and keeping it a one goal game heading into the second half of the third period. At 14:53 of the third period, Alex Grant wristed home the game-tying goal sending this contest into overtime.
After a scoreless overtime that featured scoring chances back and forth, the Falcons opened the shootout with a goal from Cody Goloubef. The Penguins responded with shootout goals from Cal O'Reilly and Colin McDonald on their way to picking up the extra point in the standings.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 4 (SO) at Springfield Falcons 3 - Status: Final SO
Sunday, March 11, 2012 - MassMutual Center
W-B/Scranton 2 0 1 0 - 4
Springfield 1 2 0 0 - 3
1st Period-1, W-B/Scranton, Picard 5 (Craig, O'Reilly), 1:56. 2, Springfield, Longpre 9 (Bass, Mayorov), 2:16. 3, W-B/Scranton, Craig 8 (O'Reilly), 3:37. Penalties-Regner Spr (tripping), 8:33; St. Pierre Spr (goaltender interference), 16:47.
2nd Period-4, Springfield, Giroux 22 (St. Pierre, Regner), 1:57 (PP). 5, Springfield, Giroux 23 (Kubalik, St. Pierre), 17:36 (PP). Penalties-Mormina Wbs (interference), 1:46; Walker Wbs (fighting), 6:00; Amadio Spr (fighting), 6:00; Thompson Wbs (hooking), 9:24; McDonald Wbs (fighting), 12:43; Cullity Spr (roughing, fighting), 12:43; served by Thompson Wbs (bench minor - unsportsmanlike conduct, game misconduct - coach), 15:02; Gibbons Wbs (slashing), 15:02; MacIntyre Wbs (cross-checking, major - elbowing, match - attempt/deliberate injury), 17:42; Bass Spr (roughing), 17:42; Goloubef Spr (delay of game), 17:42.
3rd Period-6, W-B/Scranton, Grant 7 (Street, Petersen), 14:53 (PP). Penalties-Calvert Spr (holding the stick), 6:17; Walker Wbs (high-sticking), 10:28; Garlock Spr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 12:56.
OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout - W-B/Scranton 2 (O'Reilly G, Walker NG, McDonald G, Williams NG), Springfield 1 (Goloubef G, Drazenovic NG, Kubalik NG, Mayorov NG, Calvert NG).
Shots on Goal-W-B/Scranton 10-8-7-1-1-27. Springfield 7-6-9-2-0-24.
Power Play Opportunities-W-B/Scranton 1 / 5; Springfield 2 / 6.
Goalies-W-B/Scranton, Killeen 1-2-0 (24 shots-21 saves). Springfield, Dainton 10-8-1 (26 shots-23 saves).
A-3,595
Referees-Ryan Hersey (46), Darcy Burchell (42).
Linesmen-Derek Wahl (46), Frank Murphy (29).
SUNDAY'S LINEUP
Alexandre Giroux - Martin St. Pierre - Tomas Kubalik
Matt Calvert - Nick Drazenovic - Wade MacLeod
Ryan Garlock - Andrew Joudrey - Cody Bass
Maksim Mayorov - Nate Longpre
Patrick Cullity - Theo Ruth
Cody Goloubef - Greg Amadio
Brent Regner- Dalton Prout
Anton Blomqvist
Paul Dainton
Manny Legace
Not dressed: David Savard (Injured), Nick Holden (Injured), Mark Dekanich (Injured), Adam Mair (AHL Suspension), Jake Morley, Chris D'Alvise, Aaron Bogosian, Tim Spencer
