Falcons Fall To Pack 4-2

March 12, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


The Hartford Wolf Pack earned their first win in seven games by beating the Springfield Falcons 4-2 in front of the 3,804 fans at the MassMutual Center on Friday night. The Pack built up a three-goal lead with goals from Pierre Parenteau, Brodie Dupont, and Dale Weiss in rout to the victory. Bryan Pitton made 30 saves for the Falcons in the loss and Colin McDonald and Slava Trukhno both scored goals.

"I thought we got off to a slow start," said head coach Rob Daum "We didn't capitalize on the power-play when we had an opportunity. We did a great job killing the penalty at the beginning of the second period to give ourselves a chance."

Springfield's two goals came in the last minutes of the second and third periods to cut the Hartford leads to two goals. McDonald scored at the 19-minute mark of the second to make the score 3-1 and Trukhno netted his 11th goal with 22 seconds left in the game on a Falcons' power-play.

The I-91 rivals were clashing for the seventh time this year and the final time this season at the MassMutual Center. The last two meetings both went Springfield's way, both victories were 2-1 overtime come-from-behind victories. And even though the Pack were on a seven-game winless streak and had only one win in their last 10 games the Falcons knew the challenge posed by a division rival.

"Whenever they play here, they play well," said Daum. "The circumstances coming into games like this don't mean a lot. They're a good team. We knew it was going to be a real tough game."

The Wolf Pack had a lead before the 3,804 fans were all in their seats. Parenteau provided the early goal just 57 seconds into the contest. Hartford's point leader, Corey Locke, picked up an assist on Parenteau's 17th goal of the year. The Pack added another first period goal on the Pack's first power-play from Dupont at 13:23.

The Hartford lead grew to three with Weiss' 22nd goal of the year. A nifty curl and drag gave Weiss the space needed to snap home the goal at 7:50 of the middle frame. Hartford captain Dane Byers picked up his second assist of the night on the goal, Byers also had an assist on Dupont's first period goal.

The Pack's third goal and a lengthy 5-on-3 power-play put the Falcons' backs against the wall. Hartford controlled the puck early but a stretching glove save by Pitton turned the tide on the power-play and the Wolf Pack couldn't manage another chance and the Falcon's controlled the puck in the neutral zone for the rest of the penalty kill. This penalty kill and the improved play in the final half of the second period kept the Falcons in the game.

McDonald cut the Pack's lead to two and gave the Falcons a bit of momentum and confidence going into the third period. McDonald's 11th goal of the season came from a rebound off goalie Chad Johnson's pad. It was Rob Hisey who helped create the chance. Hisey took a pass from Ryan MacMurchy and cut through the defense to take the low-angle shot that created McDonald's scoring chance.

Half the third period went by with no changes to the scoreboard above center ice until Liam Reddox broke out on a break-away against Johnson. Reddox was unsuccessful but a hook gave #9 a penalty shot opportunity. On the penalty shot, Reddox put a move on Johnson but ran out of real estate and hit the side of the net with his shot.

"I thought that [Reddox's penalty shot] was the turning point of the game," added Daum. "He scores there and it's 3-2 with a lot of time left."



American Hockey League Stories from March 12, 2010


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.

OurSports Central