FALCONS FALL TO SOUND TIGERS 4-1
December 19, 2008 - The Springfield Falcons lost to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4-1 on Friday night at the Arena at Harbor Yard. The Falcons are now 12-12-3-1 on the season and they will host the Toronto Marlies on Saturday night at the MassMutual Center.
After the two teams played a very even opening 15 minutes, Bridgeport's Kurtis McLean opened the scoring at 16:08 of the first period when his wrist shot beat Falcons goaltender Devan Dubnyk.
After a scoreless second period, Bridgeport took a 2-0 lead when Mike Iggulden scored on the power play at 8:17 of the third period, but Springfield's Rob Schremp cut the Falcons' deficit to 2-1 at 8:57 of the final frame with an even strength marker.
FALCONS AUDIO - Jeff Truitt Recaps The Loss
Later in the third period, the Falcons ran into some penalty trouble and the Sound Tigers took advantage expanding their lead to 3-1 at 11:17 of the third period when Jeff Tambellini converted on the power play.
Due to some heavy snow fall throughout the Northeast, the Falcons went on a three-hour trip to Bridgeport that normally takes 90-minutes, the Springfield Falcons arrived in Bridgeport, CT around 6:00 pm for Friday's 7 pm game.
FALCONS LINEUP
Trukhno - Schremp - Lerg
Bekar - Spurgeon - Corazzini
Lefebvre - O'Marra - McDonald
Sestito - Paukovich - Goulet
Hrabal - Roy
Peckham - Constant
Chorney - Bisaillon
Dubnyk
Fisher
FALCONS SCRATCHES - Rob Bina (Healthy), Bryan Young (Injured), Jake Taylor (Injured), Mike Gabinet (Injured), Ryan Potulny (Personal Reasons), Gilbert Brule (Suspended), Hans Benson (Healthy)
PRE-GAME NOTES
Despite the forecast of heavy snow and just about every school in Western MA being closed on Friday, the Springfield Falcons will head to Bridgeport, CT tonight to take on the Sound Tigers for the first of four meetings this season. Despite only being about a 90-minute drive apart, the Falcons and Sound Tigers haven't played each other as much over the last two seasons.
The Falcons went 0-2 against Bridgeport last season and were outscored 11-4 in the 2007-08 season series. But, that was last year and focusing on the present campaign, Bridgeport is off to a great start to the season posting a record of 18-7-1-2 good for 39 points and second place in the East Division. The Sound Tigers have given up the second fewest amount of goals in the Eastern Conference and they have played well on home ice posting a mark of 8-2-1-1 in 12 home games this year. They also own the league's eighth best power play operating at a success rate of 19.6%.
Mike Iggulden leads the Sound Tigers in scoring with 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points in 28 games, while Kurtis McLean is second with seven goals and 21 assists for 28 points in 27 contets. Center Trevor Smith is tied with Iggulden for the team lead in goals with 14. Between the pipes, Bridgeport is led by a pair of rookie netminders with Peter Mannino leading the way with a record of 8-5-2 with a 2.98 goals against average and .901 save percentage in 16 games. Goaltender Nathan Lawson has appeared in six games posting a mark of 5-0-0 with a 1.96 goals against average and .933 save percentage.
The Falcons head into Friday's action with a pair of players back in the lineup including Rob Schremp and Tim Sestito. Schremp missed seven games on recall to the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, while Sestito missed seven games due to injury. Gilbert Brule is not scheduled to be back until Sunday as he is serving his third game of a four-game AHL suspension tonight.
The Falcons remain in the hunt in the Atlantic Division with a record of 12-11-3-1 good for 28 points. Only eight points separates the top spot from the bottom spot in the Atlantic Division.
Stay tuned for tonight's lineup....
