Falcons Fall to Ice Dogs in OT
March 21, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Fresno Falcons News Release
Fresno, Calif. - The Long Beach Ice Dogs came back late in regulation to force overtime, and then scored a shorthanded goal in the extra session to down the Fresno Falcons 4-3 in front of 6,291 fans at Save Mart Center. Fresno is now 33-24-7 on the season for 73 points, and is two points behind Idaho for fourth place in the National Conference standings.
The Falcons took a 2-0 lead after one period, scoring two goals on seven shots in the opening 20 minutes. John Morlang opened the scoring with his team-leading 26th goal of the season at 3:19, taking a pass from Luke Curtin in the right-wing circle and blasting a shot over the glove of Ice Dogs' goaltender Brett Jaeger.
Fresno doubled its lead with a power-play goal at 10:52. Good passing around the perimeter between Cory Murphy and Curtin drew Jaeger out of position, and led to a wide-open net for John Wroblewski, who pushed the puck into a wide-open net from the right-wing circle for his 19th goal of the year.
Long Beach cut the Fresno lead in half at 10:01 of the second period. Brad Bonello gathered in the puck in the near corner of the Falcons' zone, and centered a pass in front for Alexei Smirnov, who deflected a shot past Ryan MacDonald for his ninth goal of the season.
The Ice Dogs tied the score just 2:11 into the final period. After MacDonald had made one save, Smirnov kept the puck alive behind the Fresno net, and put home a wrap-around shot on the far post for his second goal of the night.
Fresno scored its second power-play goal of the night at 15:22 to retake the lead. Murphy took a shot from the center of the blue line that was tipped in front by Jason Tejchma who picked up his third goal of the season.
Long Beach tied the score and forced overtime at the 19:04 mark as Smirnov capped the hat trick, putting the rebound of a Mark Hurtubise shot past MacDonald.
In overtime, the Falcons were awarded a power-play at 3:02 as Jeff Mason picked up a slashing penalty, But, Brandon Schwartz poked the puck free at the Frenso blue line, skated in alone on MacDonald, and tucked a shot home on the near post for the shorthanded goal at 3:34 giving the Ice Dogs the win.
Fresno opens a three-game road trip on Wednesday, traveling to Bakersfield for a 7:00 p.m. face-off at Rabobank Arena. Catch all of the action on 1550 and 96.1 Sporting News Radio, starting with the Port of Subs Pre-Game Show at 6:45.
The Falcons return home on Friday, March 31, hosting the Bakersfield Condors at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for all Falcons home games can be purchased at the Save Mart Center Box Office, by phone at (559) 485-8497, on-line at www.ticketmaster.com, or at any TicketMaster outlet. All Falcons' games air on 1550 and 96.1 Sporting News Radio starting with the Port of Subs Pre-Game Show 15 minutes prior to face off.
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