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AHL Springfield Thunderbirds

T-Birds Show Resilience in Comeback Win over Belleville

October 26, 2019 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Thunderbirds News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (5-4-0-0) rallied from a first period deficit, scoring five of the final six goals to secure their third consecutive win, a 5-3 triumph over the Belleville Senators (2-5-0-0) on Saturday night inside the MassMutual Center.

The Thunderbirds were amped up from the onset of the night, registering eight of the first ten shots in the game with a furious offensive push, only to see Belleville goaltender Marcus Hogberg turn each try away. The Senators, in turn, rewarded their goaltender for his hard work with a pair of goals in the back half of the first.

Both tallies came as the result of face-off victories, with Christian Jaros taking a clean draw win from Joseph LaBate and beating Philippe Desrosiers through traffic at the 10:13 marker. 6:14 later, it was Jordan Szwarz winning a tie-up and moving to the net to deflect a Max Lajoie wrist shot over the outstretched arm of Desrosiers.

Belleville held that 2-0 advantage into the second period behind 15 first period stops by Hogberg, but in the second, the Springfield offense awoke in big fashion. Brady Keeper was the beneficiary of a fortunate deflection off a Senators stick, as his slapper beat Hogberg at 7:05 of the second to cut the lead in half, 2-1.

Kevin Roy then added to the Thunderbirds scoreline with a crafty play, beginning with a subtle step-through in his own zone to dodge two checks. As he cleared the puck to center, Roy poked it by another lurching Senator to create a 2-on-1 with Owen Tippett. Roy crashed the net on the left side, took a pass from Tippett, then patiently out-waited Hogberg, curling the puck to the backhand and beating the goaltender to the tie the game at the 9:11 mark.

Tippett returned the favor just 2:34 after Roy, as he filled the slot area and took a perfect drop feed from Roy to snap home his third goal of the weekend to put Springfield in front for the first time in the game, 3-2.

The Senators did not go away, and on their second power play of the night, Morgan Klimchuk cashed in on a Josh Norris rebound in front of Desrosiers to make it a 3-3 game with just 3:32 left in the middle frame.

The two teams locked down defensively into the back half of the third, when the Thunderbirds' fourth line connected for a tie-breaking goal. Rodrigo Abols sent Jonathan Ang away to center. With Sebastian Repo carrying the puck in the middle of the ice, Ang moved to the left wing, accepted a feed from Repo, and fired a quick wrist shot into the top shelf behind Hogberg to make it a 4-3 Springfield lead at the 14:39 mark.

With Belleville threatening late, Joel Lowry and Anthony Greco combined on a clear-out to center, and Greco raced home to the empty net to score in his third consecutive game to put the finishing touches on Springfield's third consecutive victory.

On Sunday, the T-Birds look for the weekend sweep as the Rochester Americans make their second October trip to Springfield on Sunday, looking for their fourth win in six lifetime trips to the MassMutual Center. The Americans held on for a narrow 2-1 win on Oct. 11 behind a 20-save performance by Andrew Hammond. Chris Driedger played marvelously for the T-Birds in that matchup, stopping 38 of 40 shots. 17 of which came in the final period alone.

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.

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