The Sharks were up 2-0 before the game was barely five minutes old, and not even a 38-20 shot advantage could snap Springfield out of its funk.
Sharks goalie Alex Stalock, right, was a big part of Springfield's struggles Sunday in Worcester.
By DOUGLAS FLYNN
WORCESTER – Sustained pressure wasn’t enough to overcome an early flurry as the Springfield Falcons stayed in their offensive funk in a 5-1 loss at Worcester Sunday.
The Sharks struck with two quick goals in the opening minutes, and Springfield’s 38-20 shot advantage didn’t translate to the scoreboard in its second straight loss.
“We couldn’t score – that’s all there was to it,” Falcons coach Brad Larsen said. “A couple breakdowns, a couple soft goals and that was the game. As far as puck possession and chances for and against, we did a lot of great things. We just couldn’t get it by them, and when you don’t score on your chances, eventually something’s going to happen. And they were opportunistic; they made us pay when we made a mistake.”
Those mistakes started early, with James Livingston scoring on Worcester’s first shot on an odd-man break at 4:21. Livingston led the charge down the right wing. He had Daniil Tarasov open on the left but chose to take the shot himself, beating Springfield netminder Curtis McElhinney (15 saves) high to the near side over his glove from just inside the right faceoff circle.
Worcester’s fourth line unexpectedly doubled that lead less than a minute later. Tough guy Matt Pelech pounced on a loose puck below the goal line to the left of McElhinney and banked it in off the goalie at the near post for the 2-0 advantage at 5:13.
Springfield carried the play for much of the remainder of the period, but could not get anything past Worcester goalie Alex Stalock (37 saves).
The Falcons’ fourth line had the best early chance when Trent Vogelhuber took a shot from the left wing on a 2-on-1 break with Tim Spencer, but Stalock snared it with a glove. Stalock robbed Ryan Craig with a pad on a deflection in front during Springfield’s lone power-play chance of the first, and Dalton Smith was also denied after stealing the puck from Denny Urban at the Worcester blue line.
That continued a trend of recent struggles for the Northeast Division-leading Falcons. After building a 5-0 lead on Bridgeport on Friday, Springfield has been outscored 10-1 while dropping back-to-back games to Syracuse and Worcester.
“You got seven guys called up and three guys hurt, so you’re a little bit thin, but that’s the American Hockey League,” Larsen said. “No one’s feeling sorry for us. And our team, we feel that we’ve got enough guys in that locker room to get the job done. It was just tonight we came up dry on the offense.”
The Falcons finally broke through midway through the second period, Michael Chaput putting Springfield on the board at 10:07. Jonathan Audy-Marchessault won a draw cleanly in the left faceoff circle, sending back to Chaput for a one-timer that beat Stalock up high to make it 2-1.
Worcester pushed the lead back to two early in the third when Sebastien Stalberg intercepted McElhinney’s attempted clear along the right boards and fired it home from just outside the circle for a 3-1 edge at 3:02.
The Sharks added another at 11:13 when Marek Viedensky corralled a midair pass from Livingston, broke in alone and beat McElhinney top shelf, before Danny Groulx closed out the scoring with a power-play goal with 90 seconds left.