Falcons defeat Wolf Pack in OT

January 23, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


Springfield, MA, January 23, 2010 - Chris Minard's goal at 1:42 of overtime gave the Springfield Falcons a 2-1 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack Saturday night at the MassMutual Center.

Wolf Pack goaltender Chad Johnson stopped 35 shots in the game, as the Falcons outshot the Wolf Pack by a margin of 37-16. The 16 shots represented the Wolf Pack's lowest total of the season and tied a franchise low for a single game.

Still, the Wolf Pack led 1-0 for much of the contest, after Pack winger Dane Byers opened the scoring at 9:57 of the first period.

Corey Locke put the puck in front of the goal from the right-wing side of the goalmouth and Byers, headed hard towards the net from the opposite side, slid it underneath the pads of Falcon goaltender J.P. Levasseur.

It was the second straight game with a goal for Byers, who scored the overtime game-winner the night before in the Wolf Pack's 3-2 win over first-place Manchester, after the Wolf Pack captain had gone the previous eight games without a goal.

Springfield dominated most of the action in the second period, especially early, as they held the Wolf Pack without a shot in the period for much of the first half of it. Despite a 13-5 shots advantage, though, the Falcons couldn't get anything by Johnson, and the Wolf Pack's 1-0 lead carried into the third session.

Levasseur came up big to keep his team within a goal when he stopped a penalty shot at 5:10 of the third. The Wolf Pack's Andres Ambuhl was spilled by Falcon defenseman Jake Taylor, bringing the penalty shot call, but Ambuhl was unable to solve Levasseur on Ambuhl's first career North-American pro penalty shot attempt.

Springfield finally tied it at 14:28 of the third, as Johnson and the Wolf Pack got a bad break.

Johnson went behind the net to play a dump-in by the Falcons' Chad Wiseman, but the puck took a carom off the end boards, hit the outside of the goalpost and went right in front to Charles Linglet, who slammed the puck into the open net.

Then, in overtime, Levasseur made a sharp stop on Locke when Locke batted the puck out of the air and on goal, and that led to the winning play.

Wiseman beat Wolf Pack defenseman Ilkka Heikkinen to the puck in the Hartford zone along the left-wing boards and centered it to Minard, who snapped a shot past Johnson on the stick side.

With the standings point for the overtime loss, the Wolf Pack (23-16-2-4, 52 pts.) remained in sole possession of fourth place in the Atlantic Division, three points ahead of Portland and Bridgeport. The Wolf Pack wrap up a three-game weekend Sunday afternoon at Manchester (3:00 PM faceoff).



American Hockey League Stories from January 23, 2010


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