Falcons Impressive in Season Opener
Published on October 8, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release
The Springfield Falcons opened the 2010-11 regular season and their new affiliation with the Columbus Blue Jackets in style beating the Providence Bruins 5-1 at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Friday night. Chad Kolarik led the Falcons offense with two goals, while Jonathan Sigalet and David Savard each had two assists. Goaltender Dan Taylor earned the win in goal stopping 38 of 39 shots.
"This was a good win for our hockey club and we will need to try and do the same on Saturday," said head coach Rob Riley. "We had some timely goals in the second period and overall just had a really good team performance."
After a scoreless first period, the Falcons offense exploded in the second period and took control of the game. Michael Blunden scored a shorthanded goal just one minute into the middle period giving Springfield a 1-0 lead. The Falcons next scored two goals just 33-seconds apart as Kolarik scored on the power play, followed by Matt Calvert scoring his first pro goal giving the Falcons a 3-0 cushion. Kolarik added his second marker of the period with just one-second remaining in the stanza giving Springfield a 4-0 advantage through 40 minutes.
Providence's Kirk MacDonald pulled the Bruins to within 4-1 with a shorthanded goal at 5:46 of the third period, but Grant Clitsome scored the Falcons' second shorthanded goal of the night late in the third period giving Springfield a 5-1 win.
Despite no scoring in the first period, the game was spirited with a pair of first period altercations. Steven Goertzen and Nathan McIver dropped the gloves just three-minutes into the opening period, followed by Kyle Neuber and Lane MacDermid going toe-to-toe late in the first peirod.
GAME NOTES
The bus ride usually takes 90-minutes to Providence, on Friday it took two and a half hours due to some traffic on I-90.
The Falcons have now won seven straight opening night games.
Michael Ratchuk, Theo Ruth, Cody Goloubuf, Brent Regner, Chris Francis, and Steven Delisle did not dress Friday.
The Falcons took warm-up with Providence Bruins practice jerseys due to the fact that the throwback Springfield jerseys were late arriving to the arena.
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