The Springfield Falcons suffered their third shootout loss - despite overcoming a 3-1 deficit against the Manchester Monarchs.
Curtis McElhinney makes one of his 30 saves against the Monarchs Saturday night. Manchester beat the Falcons, 4-3 in a shootout.
SPRINGFIELD - One of the windows on the State Street side of the MassMutual Center was blown out during the gas explosion several blocks away on Friday night.
Manchester looked like it was set to blow out the Springfield Falcons after one period Saturday night, but the birds rallied to force overtime before they fell, 4-3 in an AHL shootout loss to the Monarchs before 4,165 at the MassMutual Center.
New Columbus Blue Jackets Director of Hockey Operations John Davidson took in the game from the press box and watched his farmhands lose their second straight game for the first time this season. But the birds did get a point, just like they did for Friday's overtime loss at Portland.
The Falcons, who were outshot, 34-24, have been on the short end of shots on goal for the past six games. This was their third shootout loss in as many tries - all at home.
Marc Andre Ciche's shootout goal - one of three by the Monarchs ended the game. Nick Drazenovic had the lone shootout goal for the Falcons.
All but one of the six goals scored during regulation came via the power play. Cam Atkinson blasted a 45-foot slap shot past Peter Manmino with 6:48 left in regulation to tie the score at 3-3.
"It's hard to get points in this league and we had to play solid against a pretty good team to get one,'' Atkinson said. "There's no quit in this team.''
Special teams were a factor. Curtis McElhinney made two sharp saves to foil Manchester shorthanded bids to keep the Falcons in the game.
"It was a little frustrating on the penalty kill,'' Falcons coach Brad Larsen said. "We started to play passive after those kills and that's not our style. We had done an excellent job killing penalties and it was deflating.''
The Falcons began the game on a promising note. But they ended the first period leaving to a chorus of boos after they quickly fell behind, 3-1.
"On two of the goals, they missed their shots and the puck still went in,'' Larsen said. "You're going to go through stretches like that and we've got to keep in mind that this was a hard fought point.''
It wasn't so much the score that seemed to upset the Falcon Faithful. It was the manner in which those three Monarchs goals were scored.
All three came during power plays. If the Falcons, indeed, do have an Achilles' heel this season, it's the alarming amount of penalties they take.
Larsen has addressed this situation many times. Just when it looks like the players get the message, they revert back to their bad habit of taking inopportune penalties.
Two of Manchester's power-play goals came during a span of 44 seconds. The fans did not care if the birds came in with an impressive 6-1-0-2 home record - like Larsen, they expect better from what could be the most talented Springfield team in more than a decade.
That talent surfaced immediately when the Falcons went on a power play. Jonathan Aduy-Marchessault passed from the left corner to Ryan Johansen in the slot and fhe former No. 4 overall draft selection one-timed a shot past goalie Peter Manmino 4:32 into the game for a 1-0 Springfield lead.
The lead was short-lived. The Monarchs, who outshot the Falcons, 18-6 over the first 20 minutes, dominated the rest of the period and put on a power-play clinic.
Tanner Pearson evened the score at one apiece at 8:47 when he powered a rebound past Curtis McElhinney. Then in a manner of 44 seconds, Manchester grabbed the lead.
Nick Deslaurieras sent a shot through a screen. McElhinney never appeared to get a good look at the puck and it went past him at 9:31 as the Monarchs moved to a 2-1 lead.
Tyler Toffoli made it 3-1 with yet another power-play goal with 3:46 remaining in the first period. He picked up a rebound and appeared to fan on his slap shot.
But the heel of his stick caught the puck and it managed to elude McElhinney.
The Falcons played much better during the second period and sliced the lead to 3-2. Jake Hansen converted a feed from Michael Chaput at 8:21 to make it a one-goal game. It was Hansen's first goal this season and the only even strength goal of regulation.
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