Falcons Lose To Sound Tigers 7-3
December 5, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release
Saturday night's game was a tale of three different hockey games as the Springfield Falcons lost to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 7-3 at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, CT. The Falcons rallied from three goals down in the first period to scored three of their own in the second period, followed by allowing four markers in the third period. The Falcons have now lost five straight games going 0-4-1-0 as they prepare to host the Adirondack Phantoms on Sunday afternoon starting at 3 pm at the MassMutual Center.
For the second straight game, the Falcons found themselves facing an early deficit and would have to play catch-up throughout the night. Bridgeport built a three-goal lead in the first period on goals from Matt Martin, Greg Mauldin and Jesse Joensuu. The Sound Tigers outshot the Falcons 15-3 in the opening 20-minutes and had control of the game.
The second period was a complete opposite from the first period as the Falcons started an early rally and took the momentum back from Bridgeport. Johan Motin started the comeback when he scored his first AHL/pro goal at 1:52 of the second period. Springfield cut their deficit to 3-2 at 7:50 of the middle stanza when Geoff Paukovich snapped a backhand top shelf on Bridgeport goaltender Rick DiPietro, followed by Bill Thomas scoring his first goal as a member of the Falcons at 13:44 evening the score at 3-3. The Falcons scored three goals on their first nine shots on DiPietro in the second period.
"I thought our second and third goals were good goals," said Falcons head coach Rob Daum. "Geoff collected a rebound and buried it, while Liam Reddox made a nice backdoor pass for Thomas' goal. We had some chances during the period to also go ahead in the game, we hit a few posts."
With the Falcons seizing the momentum, Slava Trukhno beat DiPietro to the glove side late in the second period, but the puck hit the post and didn't cross the goal line.
After the second intermission, the Sound Tigers regained their one-goal lead at 5:26 of the third period when Greg Moore converted on the power play, followed by Justin DiBenedetto scoring just 25-seconds later giving Bridgeport a 5-3 lead. Mark Flood and DiBenedetto would add a pair of goals late in the final frame leading the Sound Tigers to a 7-3 win.
The play in the third period turned a little chippy as Springfield's Kip Brennan and Bridgeport's Trevor Gillies dropped the gloves, followed by Alex Plante and Matt Martin collecting fighting majors.
GAME NOTES
Both Matt Nickerson and Johan Motin left the game due to injuries. Nickerson had a cut on his arm that required stitches after a second period fight with Pascal Morency. Motin took a puck in the facial region late in the third period, but was able to skate off the ice under his own power. Both players are day-to-day.
Johan Motin and Bill Thomas each finished the night with one goal and one assist.
Bridgeport had 12 different players record a point, Mark Wotton (3 assists), Jesse Joensuu (1 goal, 2 assists), Justin DiBenedetto (2 goals), Sean Bentivoglio (2 assists), and Greg Mauldin (1 goal, 1 assist) all had multi-point games.
Rick DiPietro stopped 10 of 13 shots in 40 minutes of action. The plan was to have Scott Munroe take over in the third period as DiPietro is rehabbing from injury. DiPietro's last game was back on January 2, 2009 and he has only played in five games over the last two seasons.
American Hockey League Stories from December 5, 2009
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