April 9, 2010 - The Springfield Falcons earned a point on the road on Friday night losing to the Providence Bruins 3-2 in overtime at the Dunkin Donuts Center. Providence's Kirk MacDonald scored in the extra session giving Providence the win. Falcons rookie goaltender Olivier Roy stopped 30 of 33 shots in his AHL/pro debut.
LIVE BOX SCORE
"I thought Olivier (Roy) was good tonight in his debut," said Falcons head coach Rob Daum. "He made some key stops and overall it was a nice first pro game for him."
The Falcons held a 2-1 lead entering the third period before Providence's Jeff LoVecchio tied the score at 2-2 with his 14th goal of the year at 11:43 of the final frame.
The Falcons looked like a team battling for a playoff spot instead of the Bruins in the first period as Chris Minard gave Springfield a 1-0 lead with his 19th goal of the year at 11:46 of the opening frame. Springfield outshot Providence 18-5 in the first period, including 12-2 midway through the stanza.
In the second period, Providence tied the score at 1-1 when Steve Kampfer scored on the power play at 3:11 of the middle frame. The Falcons regained their lead at 2-1 when Ryan O'Marra scored his 11th marker of the campaign at 15:52 of the second period.
For the second straight game, Springfield's Colin McDonald dropped the gloves, this time with Providence's Doug Nolan.
Along with Roy, Chris Vande Velde and Ryan Donald also made their pro/AHL debuts.
FALCONS LINEUP
Jesse Gimblett - Rob Hisey - Colton Fretter
Slava Trukhno - Chris Vande Velde - Liam Reddox
Blair Riley - Ryan O'Marra - Colin McDonald
Chris Minard - Chad Wiseman - Jordan Eberle
Chris Armstrong - Johan Motin
Ryan Donald - Jake Taylor
Eddie Del Grosso - Jeff Petry
Olivier Roy
Bryan Pitton
FALCONS SCRATCHES - Matt Nickerson, Ryan MacMurchy, Geoff Paukovich, Bryan Lerg, Alex Plante, Kip Brennan, Tony DeHart, Matt Beca
PRE-GAME NOTES
The most recent roster additions for the Falcons are forward Chris Vande Velde and defenseman Ryan Donald. Donald recently concluded his four-year college career at Yale University and Vande Velde also recently concluded his senior season after spending the previous four years at the University of North Dakota. Donald was not drafted and joins the Falcons on an Amateur Tryout Agreement. Vande Velde also signed an ATO, but was drafted by Edmonton in the fourth round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.
Vande Velde and Donald join Olivier Roy, Blair Riley, Jesse Gimblett, Jeff Petry, Eddie Del Grosso, Matt Beca, and Jordan Eberle as rookies who have joined the Falcons down the stretch after their respective college or junior hockey seasons came to an end.
Providence still continues to have an outside chance of earning the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, although they do need many things to go their way. The Bruins have 76 points, six points behind both Bridgeport and Norfolk for the final playoff spot, with three games remaining in the regular season. Providence needs to have Bridgeport, Norfolk and Hartford to lose their games this weekend, while Providence goes a perfect 3-0 to have a chance, but stranger things have occured.
The Falcons are winless in their last six games going 0-4-1-1 in that span with their last win happening back on March 20 at Hartford.
The Falcons will enter tonight's game with 15 AHL rookies on their roster. Springfield has had 60 different players added to their roster this year, the AHL record is 70 set by Providence 10 years ago.
*Reprinted by Oilers Jambalaya with permission by the Springfield Falcons AHL Hockey Club. The Springfield Falcons are a proud affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers (NHL)*
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep it nice, keep it civil. GOILERS!