Falcons Soar Past Bruins

Last night the Springfield Falcons and the Providence Bruins met for the fifth of ten times on the season, this time in Springfield. The Falcons were coming off of an overtime loss the night before and were looking for the two points. They certainly did not disappoint their fans in front of the biggest crowd so far this season.

“I felt the energy right away. Then Amadio getting in an early fight definitely helps and we got a powerplay goal early,” Head Coach, Brad Larsen, said of the biggest crowd of the season.

The Falcons extended their streak of scoring at least one powerplay goal to seven games when they capitalized on the first powerplay of the game. Bruins goalie Michael Hutchinson came up big on a save but would let in a goal later on the same play. Nick Drazenovic got his first assist of the night as he passed the puck right in front of the net for Captain Ryan Craig to put the puck behind Hutchinson.

Less than a minute later, tensions boiled over between the two teams. Bobby Robbins of Providence and Greg Amadio of Springfield did not even bother to square off before the fists started flying. The pair did not manage to stay on their feet long before they fell, still trying to land punches. The officials struggled to finally get the two players separated and off the ice.

The Bruins tied it up at 1 on a shot by Torey Krug from the top of the face-off circle, but that was as close as they would get. With about three and a half minutes to go in the first, Cody Goloubef took a hard shot from the blue line that found the back of the net for his first goal of the season. He was playing in only his second game since November after having missed two months to a wrist injury.

“I was out for awhile, it gets frustrating. You just have to stay with and stay positive,” Goloubef said of his time injured. “Now that I’m back, I’m just trying to get my legs back under me and take off.”

The second frame was much quieter than the first, but Jonathan Audy-Marchessault seemed determined to get onto the score sheet. Less than two minutes in, the officials were reviewing a play to see if Audy-Marchessault managed to get the puck over the line. Although he was not successful, his first goal of the game would come at the very end of the second period. Bobby Robbins was assessed a double minor for high sticking with just about a minute left. Then, with about twenty seconds to go in the period, Audy-Marchessault lifted the puck over the goalie’s right shoulder and into the net. Drazenovic earned his third assist of the game as Springfield went up 3-1.

The Bruins made a strong effort in the third period to come back, putting up 13 shots. But Springfield goalie, Allen York, stood tall and smothered the puck to keep from giving up rebounds. He made a number of difficult saves look effortless.

“He didn’t face a ton of shots, but he made some good saves. There were some deceiving ones,” Larsen said of goalie Allen York. “He made it look easy. He was finding the puck real well in traffic.”

The Falcons went ahead 4-1 a little more than halfway through the third period when Audy-Marchessault had his second goal of the night. Once again, Audy-Marchessault went top shelf after Sean Collins passed him the puck from behind the net. Drazenovic had another assist, notching one on each of the four Springfield goals last night.

Despite a late effort in the third, when Wes O’Neill managed to make the score 4-2, the Falcons had no trouble hanging on to get the two points. The Bruins are back at it in Providence against Manchester today. The Falcons have the day off, but head up to take on Manchester on Tuesday.