McElhinney Works Overtime For 100th-Career AHL Victory

Published on March 23, 2013 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


Bridgeport, Conn. - Goaltender Curtis McElhinney posted his 100th-career AHL win on Saturday night, making a game-saving stop at the end of overtime before the Springfield Falcons (37-18-5-4) prevailed in a shootout over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (26-26-6-5) at Webster Bank Arena, 4-3.

Trent Vogelhuber had a career-high two goals, while Nick Holden and Andrew Joudrey each registered two points as the Falcons increased their Northeast Division lead over Connecticut to 13 points with 12 games left in the regular season and moved into a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference with Providence.

Springfield, which saw a three-goal pad disappear prior to netting the victory in the shootout, killed off all 10 Bridgeport power plays as the Falcons became the 13th team in AHL history to play 1,500 games.

While Bridgeport piled up its scoring chances in the first period, McElhinney kept the Sound Tigers off the board. He began the contest by answering Matt Watkins' shorthanded bid with a left-pad rejection, and finished the stanza with a difficult glove stop at the end of a Bridgeport power play on a deflection in front by Scott Campbell, making 11 total saves in the opening 20 minutes.

The Falcons capitalized on their best chance of the first. Holden fired a shot from the left point that bounced off of Bridgeport goaltender Kenny Reiter and caromed to Trent Vogelhuber, who slid the rebound home as Springfield took a 1-0 lead at 13:30.

Springfield upped its edge with a pair of special-teams tallies late in the second. Holden blasted in a slap shot from the blue line off a Joudrey face-off win with the Falcons commencing a power play at 15:48, while Vogelhuber received an entry feed from Nick Drazenovic with Springfield working shorthanded and snapped a puck past Reiter's blocker from the left circle at 18:22, making it a 3-0 game.

The Sound Tigers began their comeback moments later, as Matt Donovan fired in a one-timer by McElhinney's stick at 19:26, reducing Springfield's advantage to 3-1 entering the third.

Springfield, which had been 28-1-0-0 when leading after two periods entering Saturday's action, saw its two-goal bubble burst during a 47-second flurry in the final frame.

Following the completion of a penalty, Johan Sundstrom returned to the ice and fed Donovan into Springfield's end. Donovan skated to the inner-edge of the right circle and sailed the puck over McElhinney's glove at 9:32, bringing Bridgeport to within a goal, 3-2.

Brock Nelson corralled a deflected pass from Jon Landry and wristed the puck in from the slot at 10:19, evening the contest, 3-3.

Springfield guaranteed itself a point by holding off Bridgeport from that moment and advancing into overtime.

Although the Falcons outshot the Sound Tigers, 6-2, in the sudden-death frame, McElhinney had to put together one final rebuttal to allow Springfield to move onto the shootout.

Nelson led a rush into the Falcons' zone with under 10 seconds remaining in overtime. The center dropped the puck to the right circle for Landry, whose open chance was robbed with a spectacular glove stop by McElhinney as time expired.

Although Sundstrom and Joe Diamond scored for the Sound Tigers in the shootout, Drazenovic, Cody Goloubef, and Joudrey each converted in the final three rounds, as the Falcons triumphed in the skills competition.

McElhinney (26-13-3), who leads the league with a Falcons all-time record nine shutouts, turned aside 36 of 39 shots to garner his 100th AHL victory. Reiter (0-5-2) allowed three goals on 32 shots.

Springfield, with points in all seven games against Bridgeport this season (4-0-2-1), closes out the season series against the Sound Tigers on Thursday at the MassMutual Center. The Falcons host Connecticut next Saturday, presented by Z Airport Parking. Both games next week commence at 7 p.m.

Single-game tickets to see the Falcons in 2012-2013 can be purchased at the MassMutual Center Box Office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. through game time on Saturday home dates, and starting four hours prior to Sunday home contests. Fans can also purchase tickets by logging onto Ticketmaster.com. For information about discounted group packages to Falcons home games, call (413) 739-GOAL (4625).

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from March 23, 2013


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