Wolf Pack Top Falcons in OT
December 27, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release
Springfield, MA, December 27, 2009 - Corey Locke's goal at 1:09 of overtime gave the Hartford Wolf Pack a 4-3 win over the Springfield Falcons Sunday at the MassMutual Center.
Locke also had an assist in the game, and P.A. Parenteau also had a goal and an assist for the Wolf Pack, who improved to 16-13-1-4 for 37 points on the year. Springfield is now winless in its last 15 games (0-11-3-1) and is 10-17-6-2 for 28 points.
On the winning play, Parenteau fed a perfect pass to Locke in the right-wing circle, and Locke waited a heartbeat before snapping the puck into the top corner on the glove side of Springfield netminder J.P. Levasseur (28 saves).
Springfield controlled much of the play in the first period, outshooting the Wolf Pack 15-8, and opened the scoring at 8:14, on a goal by former Wolf Pack forward Chad Wiseman. Liam Reddox centered the puck from the right-wing side and Wiseman fought off Hartford's Bobby Sanguinetti and put the puck past Wolf Pack goaltender Steve Valiquette (28 saves).
Andres Ambuhl tied it for the Wolf Pack only 1:03 later, burying a shot from the slot at 9:17 off of an assist from Derek Couture. Springfield then converted on the game's first power play at 13:54, as Nikita Kashirsky, playing in just his second AHL game for the Falcons, got behind the Pack defense and took a breakaway feed from Taylor Chorney and beat Valiquette with a move to the backhand.
Brodie Dupont tied it at two with 1:35 left in the period. Stationed at the right side of the crease, Dupont got loose from Falcon defenseman Dean Arsene and flipped in a feed from Dale Weise.
The Wolf Pack carried the momentum of that goal into the second period and outshot the Falcons 12-4 in the middle frame. The score remained tied at two until the 10:12 mark, when the Wolf Pack capitalized on a mistake by Levasseur.
Levasseur played the puck behind his net and tried to move it to teammate Bryan Young in the corner to his left, but didn't see Locke coming from his blind side. Locke took the puck away and found Parenteau in front of the goal, and Parenteau was easily able to poke the puck into the net before Levasseur could get back into position. The goal was Parenteaeu's 11th in 17 AHL games on the season.
That lead lasted until the 13:58 mark of the third period, when the Springfield power play scored on a play similar to Parenteau's goal.
Valiquette went behind the Wolf Pack net to play a loose puck, only to have it stolen from him by the Falcons' Bill Thomas. Thomas passed in front of the goal to Colton Fretter, who scored into the vacated cage.
The Wolf Pack then had to kill a holding penalty to Dupont for the final 1:46 of regulation and the first 14 seconds of overtime, which they did successfully to set the stage for Locke's OT winner.
The victory was the Pack's fourth overtime triumph of the season and snapped a five-game road winless streak (0-3-0-2). The same two teams clash again Wednesday night at the XL Center (7:00 faceoff) in the second half of a home-and-home set.
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
American Hockey League Stories from December 27, 2009
- Heat Fall 4-1 To Moose - Abbotsford Heat
- Moose Beat The Heat, 4-1 - Manitoba Moose
- Rochester Rips Past Binghamton 5-3 - Binghamton Senators
- Day One of RBC Shootout in the Books - Milwaukee Admirals
- Rampage Shoot For The Stars In 4-1 Victory Over Texas - San Antonio Rampage
- Griffins Drop Third Straight, 5-1 - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Rivermen Roll Over Griffins 5-1 - Peoria Rivermen
- Pens Sneak Past Rats 3-2 - Albany River Rats
- Bears Maul Admirals 7-1 - Norfolk Admirals
- Hogs Pick Up 6-4 Road Win Over Wolves - Rockford IceHogs
- Wolf Pack Top Falcons in OT - Connecticut Whale
- Three Goal Third Period Sinks Wolves - Chicago Wolves
- Zatkoff Feeds Goose Egg To Bruins - Manchester Monarchs
- San Antonio Beats Texas 4-1 - Texas Stars
- Falcons And Wolf Pack Need Overtime On Sunday - Springfield Falcons
- Devils Can't Catch Sharks, 3-2 - Albany Devils
- Sharks Take The Devils By The Horns, 3-2 - Worcester Sharks
- P-Bruins Fall To Monarchs 2-0 - Providence Bruins
- Admirals Sign Goaltender Shane Connelly - Norfolk Admirals
- Coyotes Recall Porter And Hoggan From San Antonio - San Antonio Rampage
- Chelios Re-Ups With Wolves - Chicago Wolves
- Marlies Sign Forward Ben Gordon To PTO Contract - Toronto Marlies
- Flyers Recall Danny Syvret From Adirondack - Adirondack Phantoms
- Rats Return Pistilli To Florida - Albany River Rats
- Game Night: Amerks Host B-Sens At Blue Cross Arena - Rochester Americans
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
