T-Birds Withstand Rocky 3rd, Nip Isles in Shootout
Published on February 20, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Thunderbirds News Release
Springfield Thunderbirds forward Thomas Bordeleau vs. the Bridgeport Islanders
(Springfield Thunderbirds)
SPRINGFIELD, Mass - The Springfield Thunderbirds (19-25-4-2) rode a turbulent night to an eventual 5-4 shootout win over the Bridgeport Islanders (21-21-3-4) on Friday night inside the MassMutual Center.
Unlike their last contest on Wednesday, the T-Birds and their opposition had a much slower start to the night offensively, with a scoreless struggle carrying late into the first. Thomas Bordeleau finally broke the ice at 14:54, winning a draw and darting to the right wing circle and rifling home a feed from Calle Rosen to give Springfield a 1-0 advantage.
Just 1:16 later, and less than half a minute into their first power play of the night, the T-Birds built a cushion as Chris Wagner jammed a loose puck through the legs of Marcus Hogberg from the blue paint to make it 2-0.
Bridgeport's power play provided a response at 19:05 when Julien Gauthier intercepted a loose puck deep in the offensive zone before sifting a forehander over Vadim Zherenko to make it a 2-1 game into the first intermission.
Zherenko proved to be pivotal in the second, especially when he made a lurching post-to-post skate save on Matt Maggio to keep his team in front. Later in the same sequence of play, Matt Luff hit Alek Kaskimaki on a 2-on-1 pass, and Kaskimaki picked the glove-side corner on Hogberg, making it 3-1 for Springfield at 6:53 of the second.
Down 3-1 heading into the third, the Islanders turned the game upside-down in the span of just over six minutes. After Springfield killed two straight Islander power plays, Hunter Drew finally got Bridgeport's second goal of the night at 5:02, moments after Hogberg kept Springfield from goals on two straight odd-man rushes.
Liam Foudy followed Drew's lead with a sneaky wrist shot from the left side at 8:42, tying the score at 3 before Pierrick Dube got a fortuitous bounce in the slot and whistled a shot over Zherenko's blocker at 11:31 to get Bridgeport its first lead of the night, 4-3.
In desperate need of a momentum shifter, Hugh McGing delivered just that for Springfield, crashing the low slot area and firing a forehander over a fallen Hogberg at 14:28 off a centering pass from Juraj Pekarcik.
For a fourth time in ten meetings, overtime was needed between the clubs, and for a third time, it reached the shootout. Bordeleau put his stamp on the night with a gorgeous backhand deke to beat Hogberg in the opening round. Zherenko then stood his ground and made three successive saves on Adam Beckman, Gauthier, and Dube to secure Springfield's first shootout triumph of the season.
The T-Birds remain on home ice for a 6:05 p.m. puck drop on Saturday against the Providence Bruins. Springfield will rebrand as the Ice-O-Topes and look to remain unbeaten as their alter-ego before a sold-out Thunderdome crowd.
Single-game tickets and ticket memberships for all remaining games in the Thunderbirds' 2025-26 season are available now - fans can order now by visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625).
Images from this story
 Springfield Thunderbirds forward Thomas Bordeleau vs. the Bridgeport Islanders |
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