FALCONS BEAT PHANTOMS 4-2
April 13, 2012 - The Springfield Falcons continued their strong play at home beating the Adirondack Phantoms 4-2 on Friday night in front of 4,396 at the MassMutual Center. Wade MacLeod scored a pair of goals for the Falcons, while Nick Drazenovic added a pair of assists and Paul Dainton stopped 26 of 28 shots on goal in helping the Falcons to their 35th win of the year. The Falcons are now 10-1-1-1 in their last 13 home games, including four straight victories at The Nest.
The Falcons used a youthful lineup on Friday, a group that created energy right from the start of the game and a group that featured four players making their AHL/pro debuts. Will Weber, Daniel New, Trent Vogelhuber and Jake Hansen all jumped the boards for their first pro shifts in the opening frame, but it was the Falcons captain who opened the scoring for the hometown team. Dane Byers took a nice feed from Drazenovic in the high slot and snapped a shot past Adirondack goaltender Michael Leighton at 16:46 of the first period giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead.
The Falcons held on to their advantage until late in the second period when Adirondack's Ben Holmstrom converted on a 5 on 3 Phantoms power play evening the score at 1-1.
In the third period, the Falcons regained their lead at 3:34 when David Savard one-timed a feed from New giving Springfield a 2-1 edge. For New, it was his first career pro point. MacLeod expanded the Falcons lead to 3-1 at 12:33 of the final frame with Springfield's second power play marker of the night, but Adirondack's Mike Testwuide converted just over a minute later cutting the Falcons' advantage to 3-2.
In the game's final minute, MacLeod added his second marker of the night concluding a 4-2 Springfield victory.
GAME NOTES
6 of the Falcons 12 forwards tonight played college hockey before turning pro (Joudrey, Hansen, Collins, MacLeod, Vogelhuber, Longpre)
A total of 10 of Springfield's 20 players in the game tonight played college hockey.
Nine different colleges were represented in the Falcons lineup on Friday including: Miami of Ohio, Providence College, UMass-Amherst, Brown, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Cornell, Northeastern, and Robert Morris.
Forwards tonight were Longpre, Drazenovic, Garlock, Jenner, Mayorov, Collins, Hansen, MacLeod, Russell, Joudrey, Byers and Vogelhuber.
Defense was Weber, Prout, Savard, New, Regner and Blomqvist tonight.
Paul Dainton and Mike Clemente were be the goalies in uniform.
The Falcons had 30 skaters and 3 goalies listed for tonight's contes.
Adirondack Phantoms 2 at Springfield Falcons 4 - Status: Final
Friday, April 13, 2012 - MassMutual Center
Adirondack 0 1 1 - 2
Springfield 1 0 3 - 4
1st Period-1, Springfield, Byers 16 (Drazenovic, Regner), 16:46. Penalties-Vogelhuber Spr (boarding), 14:11; Jancevski Adk (slashing), 17:21.
2nd Period-2, Adirondack, Holmstrom 13 (Manning, Ford), 17:57 (PP). Penalties-Byers Spr (interference), 1:22; Holmstrom Adk (cross-checking), 3:57; Joudrey Spr (tripping), 16:19; Prout Spr (hooking), 16:40.
3rd Period-3, Springfield, Savard 4 (New, Drazenovic), 3:34 (PP). 4, Springfield, MacLeod 9 (Savard, Byers), 12:33 (PP). 5, Adirondack, Testwuide 12 (Gustafsson, Roe), 13:37. 6, Springfield, MacLeod 10 (Savard, Drazenovic), 19:00 (EN). Penalties-Roe Adk (holding), 1:48; served by Rowe Adk (bench minor - too many men), 11:22; Harper Adk (delay of game), 19:48.
Shots on Goal-Adirondack 10-8-10-28. Springfield 7-5-10-22.
Power Play Opportunities-Adirondack 1 / 4; Springfield 2 / 5.
Goalies-Adirondack, Leighton 27-26-1 (21 shots-18 saves). Springfield, Dainton 13-12-1 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-4,396
Referees-Francis Charron (46), Terry Koharski (10).
Linesmen-Brent Colby (7), Kevin Redding (16).
