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Falcons Pull Away From Whale

January 18, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


Springfield, Mass. - The Springfield Falcons (22-9-3-3) fell behind early but scored four-straight goals on Friday night at the MassMutual Center to pull away from the Connecticut Whale (16-19-3-1) and earn their fourth-straight victory, 4-2.

Springfield upped its Northeast Division advantage to 10 points with a game in hand on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers with the victory. The Falcons will attempt to win four-straight contests for the first time since December of 2006 when they welcome the Albany Devils to The Nest on Saturday.

Kris Newbury netted the first of his two goals on the game just 49 seconds into the contest, receiving a long feed at center ice from Mike Vernace, flying into the Falcons end, and snapping a puck past the stick of Springfield netminder Allen York, as Connecticut captured a 1-0 lead.

Tim Erixon, assigned to Springfield by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, took a tip pass at center from Nick Drazenovic, stickhandled around Dylan McIlrath to gain the Whale end, and wristed a puck off of Connecticut goaltender Cam Talbot and in at 4:07, tying the game, 1-1. The goal was Erixon's fourth of 2012-2013 against the Whale and his career-high fifth of the season.

Nearing the halfway point of the first, Drazenovic corralled a puck from Sean Collins in the neutral zone, skated in on a two-on-one rush, and fired a shot by Talbot from the right circle at 9:57, putting Springfield in front permanently, 2-1.

Ryan Craig knocked down an Erixon blue-line shot on the doorstep, settled the puck down, and slid it by Talbot at 8:34, increasing the Falcons' advantage to 3-1.

Toward the end of their second man-advantage opportunity of the game, Tomas Kubalik positioned himself in front of Talbot and deflected a Nick Holden middle-point shot into the net, as Springfield converted on the power play for the ninth-straight contest and extended its edge to 4-1.

The Falcons held their three-goal cushion until the final moments of the game, when Newbury put home a loose puck in front off a Chad Kolarik shot at 19:26, but Springfield prevailed, 4-2.

York (4-3-0) stopped 24 of 26 shots, as he won his third-straight start. Talbot (13-17-0) let in four goals on Springfield's 28 bids.

The game had significance in the AHL's 77-year history as defenseman Bryan Helmer made his 2012-2013 debut. Helmer, signed by Springfield last week, became the third player to participate in 19 AHL seasons.

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