The Falcons couldn't hold on to a first-period lead and lost their fifth game in seven tries.
Springfield's Ryan Garlock stops Providence's Colby Cohen Friday night at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. By NATE OWEN
HARTFORD – The Falcons avoided a slow start, but the end result was still the same.
Four unanswered goals by the Connecticut Whale erased an early Springfield lead and sent the Falcons to their fifth loss in seven games New Years Eve at the XL Center.
Up to 2-1 following the opening period, Springfield gave up two second-period goals while failing to convert any of its three power-play chances and fell 5-2.
“We got away from doing the little things,” Falcons captain Dane Byers said. “We gave them too many opportunities.”
A Brett Regner turnover deep in their own zone hurt the Falcons, as Andreas Thuresson pounced on a rebound of a Kelsey Tessier shot, putting it past goalie Manny Legace at 1:06 to make it 2-2.
The Whale killed off a pair of back-to-back penalties, including seven seconds of a 5-on-3, and took the lead for good on Pavel Valentenko’s power-play blast from just inside the blue line at 12:42.
Connecticut expanded its lead with third-period goals by Kris Newbury and Brendan Bell.
Newbury’s came on a 4-on-4 situation when he took an odd angle pass from Valentenko that ricocheted off the end boards and poked it past Legace on the right post at 4:33. Bell added a power-play score at 6:11, wristing a shot past Legace from the top of the right faceoff circle.
“We were kind of a step slow and they were a little quicker,” Falcons coach Rob Riley said. “Our special teams just weren’t effective.”
Connecticut (18-10-1-3) was 2-for-4 on the man advantage, while Springfield went 0-for-6 after scoring on its first power play of the game.
The midgame struggles spoiled a strong opening period for the Falcons.
After Kris Newbury opened the scoring for the Whale, Springfield (14-16-1-1) tied it up when Andrew Joudrey threaded a pass to Tomas Kubalik, who snuck behind the defense and motored down the slot, beating Cameron Talbot glove-side at 8:48.
The Falcons took the lead on a Byers power-play goal at 16:00. Maksim Mayorov took a pass from the Springfield captain and drove to the right post before backhanding the puck back to the crashing Byers, who tipped it into the exposed net.
“Scoring has been hard for us, so getting a couple goals in the first period is something we hadn’t been able to do,” Riley said. “We just didn’t hold up very well from there.”
Legace finished with 29 saves, while Talbot turned away 23 shots.
Springfield is off until next weekend, when it hosts Worcester Friday at 7:30 p.m. to start a three-game weekend.
NOTES: The Falcons were minus defenseman David Savard, who was recalled by Columbus after James Wisniewski fractured his ankle. Riley said he found out Saturday morning that Savard would be gone for an indefinite amount of time. “He played 32 minutes last night; those were valuable minutes,” Riley said. The second-year player is one of the Falcons’ top defenders and runs the point on the power play. “Savvy is a pretty good power play guy,” Byers said. “You miss a guy like that, but other guys have to step up. Theo Ruth took Savard’s spot next to Brett Lebda in the Falcons’ top defensive pairing ... Forward Mike Thomas was sent to the Chicago Express of the ECHL for the weekend ... Saturday marked the tenth straight start for Legace in goal ... It was a busy afternoon for the XL Center staff, as the arena was transformed for hockey in just under three hours following a University of Connecticut men’s basketball game.