Falcons Lose To Pirates 7-1
December 12, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release
The Springfield Falcons lost to the Portland Pirates, 7-1, on Saturday night in front of 2,913 at the MassMutual Center. The Falcons saw their winless streak extended to nine games (0-7-1-1) as they prepare for a contest against the Lowell Devils on Tuesday.
"They capitalized on all their chances," said Falcons Head Coach Rob Daum on the Pirates, "They didn't dominate the game, but they dominated on the scoreboard for sure."
Springfield came out shooting during the first period as they outshot the Pirates 16-7 after twenty minutes of play. Unfortunately for the Falcons none of those 16 shots got past Portland goalie Jhonas Enroth.
Portland's Kyle Rank scored a shorthanded goal at 2:30 to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead. Rank's slapshot found a space in between Devan Dubnyk's legs. Rank's goal marked the eighth consecutive game where the Falcons failed to score the game's first goal. Later in the period, Portland struck again as Derek Whitmore scored his first power play goal of the season to make it 2-0 Pirates heading into the first intermission.
Springfield had their chances in the first stanza with two power play opportunities, but Portland's penalty kill team came through on both occasions. On the other hand the Pirates converted on their one and only power play in the first period.
In the second period, the Falcons scored early to make it a 2-1 game. Scoring on the power play for the Falcons was Bill Thomas with his second goal of the season. Assisting on the goal were Charles Linglet and Alex Plante.
Less than 30-seconds after Thomas' goal, Portland scored on the power play when Whitmore converted for his second goal of the game. Later in the period, Portland's Drew Schiestal made a beautiful pass to Rank as he connected on his second score of the game. Portland continued the second period attack with Kyle Wanvig's seventh goal of the year and Jeff Cowan's 11th goal to make it 6-1 Pirates heading into the final twenty minutes.
"The chances they got were either two on ones or breakaways," said Coach Daum on Portland.
Late in the second, Springfield's leading goal scorer Colton Fretter took a rough hit as one of the Portland's players fell in front of him cutting him off at the legs. Fretter immediately fell to the ground and he was in pain as he skated off on his own into the locker room with an apparent leg injury. Fretter did not return to the game and he is listed as day-to-day.
The most excitement in the third period came late in the stanza when Falcons forward Geoff Paukovich and Pirates defenseman Mike Weber dropped the gloves behind the Pirates goal. Rank added a third goal of the game with less than a minute in the contest to make it 7-1 giving him a hat trick.
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