Sports stats



AHL Springfield Thunderbirds

T-Birds Come Away with a Point in Roller-Coaster Night vs. Bruins

December 14, 2019 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Thunderbirds News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (15-13-1-0) battled back from a second intermission deficit to take a point from the Providence Bruins (17-9-1-2) in a 5-4 Providence overtime win on Saturday night inside the MassMutual Center.

Former Bruin Tommy Cross jumped out to a red-hot start just 5:00 into the opening period, as Jayce Hawryluk set him up on a rink-wide feed from left circle to right circle in the offensive zone. Cross immediately let a wrister fly that tickled the twine in the top shelf, beating Max Lagace to give Springfield the 1-0 advantage.

Providence's penalty kill proved to be its best asset in bouncing back from goals in the opening period, as Jack Studnicka picked up a shorthanded goal, sneaking a forehand shot through Philippe Desrosiers at 5:45 to tie the game on the rookie's 11th goal of the season.

Cross was not finished, though, and on the same T-Birds power play, the longtime Bruin found a lane toward the net on the left wing side and slapped the puck through Lagace at 6:18 to restore the T-Birds lead, 2-1.

The Bruins responded one more time while shorthanded at 14:56, as Trent Frederic took his time with a 2-on-1 advantage to snap a wrist shot through Desrosiers' blocker side to tie the game, 2-2.

Each team kept the opponent's goalie busy, as Providence threw 18 pucks on Desrosiers, while the T-Birds launched 11 in Lagace's direction.

Both teams kept the offense going with no hesitation to start the second. Robert Lantosi got the Bruins their first lead at 1:51 as he picked up a rebound in a race to the net to beat Desrosiers to make it a 3-2 game.

T-Birds captain Paul Thompson took little time to get the game back even as he beat Lagace on the glove side on a breakaway snap shot at 2:04 to tie things up, 3-3.

For almost ten minutes, defense finally reigned supreme, but after the Bruins drew their third power play chance on a Jack Rodewald goalie interference penalty, Providence finally solved the Springfield PK with Peter Cehlarik one-timing a cross-ice pass from Lantosi through Desrosiers to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead, which would hold up heading into the third.

With both teams pushing one another in a literal and figurative sense, the third period produced post-whistle fireworks at just about every stoppage in play. When Brady Keeper and Jeremy Lauzon took matching minor penalties, 4-on-4 hockey ensued and at 9:52, Aleksi Saarela danced into the offensive end on the right wing, cut to the net on his backhand, then shuffled a forehand shot into the top shelf to tie the game and eventually force the 4-4 game into overtime.

After generating about a minute of offense, a tired trio of T-Birds got caught on the ice, and with the game on his stick, Bruins captain Paul Carey out-waited Desrosiers from backhand to forehand to score the game-winner, ending the T-Birds' streak of five straight wins in games that extended beyond 60 minutes.

The T-Birds and Bruins complete the rivalry week on Sunday afternoon inside the Dunkin' Donuts Center, with puck drop set for 3:05 p.m.

For more ticket information or to become a 2019-20 Springfield Thunderbirds ticket package member, or to purchase single game tickets, call (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or visit www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.

Check out the Springfield Thunderbirds Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from December 14, 2019


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