The Springfield Falcons lost to the Manchester
Monarchs 4-2 on Friday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester,
NH opening a home-and-home series with the Monarchs. The Falcons and
Monarchs will meet again on Saturday night back in Springfield starting at
7:30 pm.Trailing 4-0 entering the third period, the Falcons rallied in the final frame cutting their deficit in half. Bryan Lerg got the Falcons on the scoreboard at 7:41 of the third period when he danced around a pair of Manchester defenders and slipped a backhand past Monarchs goaltender Jonathan Bernier. Midway through the final period, Lerg again was involved, this time dropping the gloves with Manchester's Juraj Mikus as each player received figthing majors.
The Falcons continued to apply pressure in the third period as Slava Trukhno cut Springfield's deficit to 4-2 at 14:58 of the third period, Trukhno's third goal of the year.
"Not sure what it is when we play here, but we can't afford to fall behind early in games against these guys," said Falcons assistant captain Charles Linglet. "We played the final 40 minutes like we have to play the full 60 minutes. We have a chance to redeem ourselves Saturday night."
After a scoreless 10-minutes of play, the Monarchs exploded for four goals in the second half of the period taking a four-goal cushion into the intermission. Patrick Mullen opened the scoring at 10:40 of the first period with a power play goal, followed by Drew Bagnall's slap shot finding the back of the net just 20-seconds later. Marc-Andre Cliche gave Manchester a 3-0 lead at 16:57 of the opening period, followed by Gabe Gauthier scoring his third marker of the year with just 39-seconds remaining in the period.
"Just too many turnovers early and they took advantage," said Falcons head coach Rob Daum. "We were giving away pucks early in the game, and just giving goals away. We were better later in the game, but the damage was already done."
The teams played a scoreless second period with Springfield outshooting Manchester 10-9. The Falcons outshot Manchester 9-3 in the third period and 31-28 for the game.
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