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Falcons Beat The Pirates In A Shootout 3-2

December 5, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


December 5, 2008 - The Springfield Falcons ended a season-high five game losing streak in dramatic fashion on Friday night in Springfield in front of 3,131 fans, securing a shootout victory 3-2 over the Portland Pirates. The win moves the Falcons within six points of first place in the tightly contested Atlantic Division.

The Falcons took the shootout 3-1 on goals from Ryan Potulny, Viacheslav Trukhno and Carl Corazzini and won for the first time in close to two weeks despite playing without center Gilbert Brule, who followed Rob Schremp earlier in the day to Edmonton on recall to the Oilers.

Springfield struck the first blow of the game at 5:32 of the first period. With Portland's Mike Weber off on an interference call, Springfield established itself in the Pirates' offensive zone after a shorthanded breakaway attempt was foiled by a sprawling Devan Dubnyk pokecheck. The Pirates' penalty killers collapsed down low and Bryan Lerg picked up the puck low and wide and fired a quick snap shot past Portland goalie Jhonas Enroth. The goal was Lerg's fifth of the season and was assisted by Ryan Potulny and Theo Peckham.

The Falcons carried the play in the second period but were held off by the Pirates, who seemed to be on their heels throughout the period and clinging desperately to the one-goal defecit. Along with several key stops by Portland's Enroth, the Pirates were also helped out by the crossbar on a Mathieu Roy cannon from the point on a power play early in the period. Despite beating Enroth cleanly, the puck caught all iron and bounced harmlessly away.

The second period misses would almost come back to haunt the Falcons in the third period. Portland found the net on a 5-on-3 power play advantage on Nathan Gerbe's 14th goal of the season, a nifty tic-tac-toe play with Tim Kennedy and Chris Butler to set up a wide-open one-timer.

Springfield grabbed the lead back less than two minutes later. Corazzini put a hard shot on net from the right wing and Derek Bekar buried the long rebound to make it a 2-1 game. Tyler Spurgeon picked up the second assist on the goal.

The lead, however, was short lived as the Pirates continued to put heavy pressure on the Falcons. Even with a power play that yielded some scoring chances, the Falcons allowed a key 2-on-1 by the Pirates' Marc-Andre Gragnani and Felix Schutz. Schutz got the puck deep and slid it to an uncovered Gragnani for a tally that was the mirror-image of Gerbe's earlier score, making it a tie game once again at 2-2.

The goal was Gragnani's second of the season and forced the game into overtime.

The overtime period ended the same way it began, with incredible energy and determination on both sides. Each team traded excellent scoring chances that both goaltenders were equal to, and the period even ended on an after-the-buzzer fight between Theo Peckham and Mathieu Darche just after the Falcons made a last-second rush into Portland's zone.

For the game, the Falcons were 1-7 on the power play. Portland was 1-6 with the man-advantage and recorded a shorthanded goal.

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