Falcons Beat Pirates 2-1 In A Shootout

February 22, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


The Springfield Falcons beat the Portland Pirates 2-1 in a shootout on Friday night at the MassMutual Center. Falcons goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped 42 of 43 shots in regulation and all four in the shootout to earn the game's first star.

"This was a very good team win," said Dubnyk, who has started the last three games. "I had a good week of practice with Edmonton Oilers goaltending coach Pete Peeters and I have really felt good playing right now. It's a long season and you know your time will come to play and right now I am just happy we got the win."

The Falcons improved their record to 25-21-5-5 on the season and have a four point lead on the fourth and final playoff spot within the Atlantic Division. Springfield has now earned at least a point in nine of their last 12 games and they will prepare to host the Providence Bruins on Saturday night.

The Falcons opened the scoring in the first period when forward Rob Schremp converted on the power play at 18:14 assisted by Viacheslav Trukhno and T.J. Kemp. Springfield carried that lead into the third period.

"It was a tight game and every contest late in the year is going to be a close game," said Falcons head coach Kelly Buchberger, who has seen his team already surpass last year's point total in the standings. "We can't get too high, we have a long weekend still ahead of us, we have two more tough games and we will be ready to go."

In the third period, Portland's Drew Miller tied the score at 1-1 when he tallied his ninth marker of the campaign at 5:22. Dubnyk held the fort the remainder of regulation stopping 15 of 16 Pirates' shots in the final frame.

"Devan (Dubnyk) gave us a chance to win and we counted on him a lot tonight," said Buchberger. "He has worked hard and it's nice to see him get rewarded."

GAME NOTES

The game was delayed about 15 minutes after Portland's bus arrived late to the arena due to the snow falling throughout New England.

The Falcons now have 60 points in the standings, one more than all of last year.

Newly acquired Grant Potulny arrived in Springfield around 4:30 pm after starting his commute from Hershey around 7 am. Potulny had just enough time to arrive at the hotel, take a shower and get to the rink to meet his new teammates.

"It took a couple of periods to get my legs under me," said Potulny, who also played with Stephen Werner this season in Hershey. "It was a good win, it felt good to get a win in my first game and I am just looking forward to helping out anyway I can."



American Hockey League Stories from February 22, 2008


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