The Falcons scored on five of their first 15 shots against rehabbing San Jose goalie Antero Niittymaki.
Springfield's Tomas Kubalik deflects a shot on Worcester goalie Tyson Sexsmith Dec. 13 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. By DAN HICKLING
WORCESTER – The Springfield Falcons headed into the holiday break in the jolliest of moods.
They had every reason to after trouncing the Worcester Sharks, 6-3, at the DCU Center Wednesday night.
Tomas Kubalik and Ryan Garlock each fired in two goals to give the Birds two straight wins before Christmas.
“We needed that one, for sure,” said Garlock. “It was tough; we had a few losses in a row there. We needed those last few games to regain our confidence and have a good feeling going into the break.”
Said defenseman Brent Regner, “I think everybody was a little anxious because we were excited for the break. But I think we did a good job of being focused. We all worked hard. These two wins mean a lot.”
The Falcons could scarcely have asked for a better start.
Springfield put two first-period pucks behind Worcester goalie Antero Niittymaki, who is in the AHL from San Jose on a rehab assignment, then added three more in the second period to take a 5-1 lead.
The first came from Garlock at 6:16, and had a bit of good fortune involved.
Garlock’s linemate Cam Atkinson worked to fish the puck out of the deep corner, then dished out to Matt Calvert, who whiffed on his shot.
However, the puck continued into the slot, where Garlock one-timed it past Niittymaki for his second goal of the season.
“I was kind of in the right place at the right time,” said Garlock, “and I took a rip at it. I don’t even think I got all of it.”
Tomas Kubalik followed at 14:47 with a goal that was initially credited to Alexandre Giroux (who remains at 349 for his stellar AHL career, 10th best in league history).
Standing at the top of the right circle, Giroux took David Savard’s rinkwide pass and gunned it toward the net, where Kubalik tipped it past Niittymaki to make it 2-0.
For the Falcons, that was just the harbinger of better things to come.
Garlock made it 3-0 with his second of the night, scoring shorthanded just 41 seconds into the second stanza.
It marked the first two-goal game of Garlock’s AHL career, which began in 2006 and spans 275 games.
“You’ve got to start sometime,” Garlock cracked.
Then, after Tom McCarthy replied for Worcester at 3:15, the Falcons popped in two more, from Kubalik (his fifth) and Maksim Mayorov (his first).
At that point, Niittymaki, who is scheduled to rejoin San Jose on Thursday, had allowed five goals on 15 shots.
“When you put the line up on the board before the game and you see a name like that, you take notice,” said Garlock. “It presents a bit of a challenge. It gets the boys a little more fired up because he’s such a world class goalie. To have a chance to play a game against him is pretty cool.”
Atkinson netted his team-high 15th of the season at 2:13 of the third to close out the Springfield scoring.
Garlock assisted, giving him the first three-point game in the AHL.
NOTES: Falcons goalie Manny Legace played the first two periods before giving way to the newly reassigned Allen York in the third. Falcons coach Rob Riley said Legace felt some tingling in his arm after getting bumped on a Sharks wraparound. “I think he’ll be fine,” said Riley. .¤.¤. The Falcons will be without veteran forward Cody Bass for the foreseeable future, and perhaps longer. Bass suffered a fall in practice this week and suffered an “upper body injury” that is now considered to be serious. He had recently been returned to Springfield from the parent Columbus Blue Jackets. ... The news is a little more encouraging pertaining to rookie Swedish defenseman Anton Blomqvist, who has been out of commission since Oct. 16 after suffering a concussion in the opening stretches of the season. He has progressed to the point where he was able to take the Wednesday’s pregame skate.The lanky (6-5, 200) Blomqvist, the Blue Jackets’ sixth-round choice in 2009, has played just three games.