The Falcons went 4-for-4 on the power play and chased Providence goalie Anton Khudobin.
Springfield's Cam Atkinson drives for the net Wednesday against Worcester at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. Atkinson scored twice for the Falcons Friday night in Providence. By MIKE SCANDURA
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Perfection.
That noun best describes the Springfield Falcons’ power play Friday night in a 7-2 romp over the Providence Bruins.
Springfield went 4-for-4 with the man advantage on goals by Nick Drazenovic, Cam Atkinson, Alexandre Giroux and Nick Holden.
“We had it going pretty well (tonight),” coach Rob Riley said. “In the last couple of games the puck wasn’t really bouncing, and tonight it bounced for us. We have some really good skill players this year and I think it showed tonight with the goals by Giroux and Atkinson.”
Giroux’s power-play goal came at 15:12 of the second period and gave Springfield a 4-0 lead.
What made the play even more impressive was the fact that Springfield goalie Manny Legace (36 saves) foiled a P-Bruins’ 3-on-1 rush, and the Falcons immediately counterattacked.
“That came at a key time,” Riley said. “Giroux made a nice backcheck and just got his stick on their stick a little bit to take something off the puck.
“Manny kicked it back up. We went off to the races and scored. It probably was a pivotal point (in the game).”
Literally speaking, the ice wasn’t tilted in the direction of Providence goalie Anton Khudobin during the first period. Figuratively, however, that appeared to be the case as Springfield outshot Providence 15-7 and put three goals on the scoreboard – two on the power play.
Springfield needed barely five minutes to notch its first goal, on a power play, when Nick Drazenvoic buried the rebound of a Cody Golubet shot.
Defenseman Brett Lebda gave Springfield a 2-0 lead at 13:28 when he deflected a centering pass from Martin St. Pierre, who extended his point streak to nine games.
Atkinson capped the first-period outburst with a power-play goal as he knocked home the rebound of a St. Pierre shot at 15:46.
“We haven’t been a good first-period team and we knew they had struggled a little bit, too,” Riley said. “Coming off the Worcester game (which Springfield won, 3-2 in overtime) where we really put together three good periods for the first time, it was nice to carry that over into tonight.
“The last two games we’ve had good starts. Before that, we weren’t very good out of the blocks.”
Carter Camper spoiled any hopes Legace had for a shutout when he stuffed the puck inside the left post at 16:14 of the second period.
Springfield prompted Providence coach Bruce Cassidy to yank Khudobin when a Atkinson scored on a wrist shot from the slot at 1:06 of the third, making it 5-1.
Atkinson, Nick Holden and Aaron Bogosian scored in the third as Springfield applied the finishing touch on perhaps its most impressive victory of the season.
“At this point, these guys are pros,” Riley said of his team, which has won six of its last eight games. “They know what they’re doing. We have a lot of veteran players and they knew they had to pick it up.
“When they do that, we can be a pretty good team. I think we saw that tonight.”