The line of Nick Drazenovic, centering Cam Atkinson and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, has been highly productive.
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Center Nick Drazenovic has his line clicking with the Springfield Falcons.
SPRINGFIELD – One can find many reasons for the early season success of the Springfield Falcons in the American Hockey League’s Northeast Division.
Three of them play on a line together – Nick Drazenovic centering for Cam Atkinson and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault.
So far, these players have accounted for 22 goals and 58 points. They haven’t done all of that as a unit, but since their line was formed, they have been skating hard and playing well together.
“It helped the team when the coaches put us together,” Drazenovic said. “I was playing with Matt Calvert, and now he’s with Ryan Johansen and Sean Collins – and that makes another very good line.”
Actually, Drazenovic is happy to be playing at all, considering what he went through with the Falcons last season. He was on the roster all year long, but active for only 41 games. He first was sidelined in late November with what proved to be a concussion. When he finally got clearance to return to action, he incurred a right knee injury which sidelined him again.
Drazenovic’s first injury came at a time when he was playing very well. His loss had a lot to do with the team eventually falling out of contention.
“I was out six weeks, then two weeks. It’s really nice now to be healthy and playing full time and contributing to what this team is doing,” he said. “I’m playing with two highly-skilled wings, and my job is to get them the puck,” he said.
Atkinson leads the team in goals with 10. Audy-Marchessault leads in points with 21. Drazenovic is right there with six goals and 17 points.
With the Springfield Armor of the NBA Development League needing the MassMutual Center arena to practice for home games Friday and Saturday, the Falcons have been getting their work done at Cyr Arena in Forest Park.
They’ll have a short work week before departing early Thursday morning (2:45 a.m.) for a trip to St. John’s, a hockey-mad city in Newfoundland. The Falcons will play at the Mile One Centre Friday and Saturday.
“That’s a great city, and they love their hockey. They sold out every game (capacity 6,287) last year, and they’re doing it again,” Falcons president and general manager Bruce Landon said.
So far, the Falcons have been hard to beat on the road. They have gone 6-1-0-0, with the loss coming in a 3-2 grinder at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Nov. 14.
Why so good on the road?
“It’s just a matter of playing 60 minutes as best we can,” Drazenovic said. “St. John’s will be a tough assignment because of the travel, but we’ll just focus on making sure we play a good first period, and take it from there.”
Drazenovic, a 25-year-old sixth-year pro from Prince George, British Columbia, said the Falcons have been playing well for two reasons: “We have a lot of depth, and we have players who concentrate on being responsible for doing the little things you need to win.”
ICE CHIPS: The Falcons practiced without head coach Brad Larsen, who has time off as he and his wife, Hannah, await the birth of their second child. The couple has a 3-year-old daughter, Faith . . . The team travels by bus to Boston, flies to Toronto and then flies to St. John’s ... Defenseman Will Weber has returned from the disabled list. With his activation, the Falcons returned Patrick Cullity to the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL . . . The Falcons have outscored opponents by 28 goals, highest differential in the AHL and eight better than second-place Abbotsford . . . Springfield has limited opponents to two goals or less in 13 of its 20 games. That includes a franchise record-tying five shutouts for goaltender Curtis McElhinney.