Though the Falcons have righted the ship after a recent 6-game slump, the way they pulled out their most recent game isn't anything they want to duplicate.
Ryan Russell, left, has been vital to the Falcons' penalty-kill efforts.
SPRINGFIELD – As Springfield Falcons coach Brad Larsen reflected Tuesday on his team’s 4-3 shootout victory at Bridgeport Saturday night, he said:
“I have no idea how we won.”
Why? Because his team prevailed despite drawing 10 penalties – actually, 11, but the last came as time expired.
“You don’t criticize a win, but when you win like that, you’d better learn something from it,” Larsen said.
So it was that he and his players spent considerable time looking at video of the game. The viewing made clear the mistakes and lack of aggressiveness that haunted them.
“When you really think about it, the three goals we scored covered about 50 seconds of ice time. For the rest of it, we had no jump, we were late to the puck, and when you do that, you’re chasing, reaching – and that leads to penalties,” Larsen said.
The Falcons survived because their penalty-kill units did an outstanding job – again. Over their last four games, they have killed 25 consecutive power plays.
The penalty-killing roles were handled by forwards Ryan Russell, Andrew Joudrey, Ryan Craig, Nick Drazenovic and Trent Vogelhuber, and defensemen Will Weber, David Savard, Nick Holden, Cody Goloubef and Theo Ruth.
Of course, the Falcons also had Curtis McElhinney, their red-hot goaltender.
“I think Bridgeport was one of his better games, and it went right down to the last second of overtime, when he made an unbelievable glove save,” Larsen said.
The Falcons have a three-game winning streak, coming after the team’s only real slump – a six-game losing streak in which it managed to salvage two points.
Springfield leads the American Hockey League’s Northeast Division by 11 points with 12 games to play, but Larsen and his players won’t be coasting down the stretch.
“I expect to see us play better in our next game. It’s Bridgeport again, and they’ll be coming at us,” Larsen said.
The Falcons host the Sound Tigers in their second, and last, Thursday home game. They get Friday off, then close out March with a Saturday home game against Connecticut.
ICE CHIPS: Holden scored power-play goals Friday against Worcester and Saturday against Bridgeport. He has career-best totals in assists (23) and points (30). He leads the team in plus/minus rating with a plus 19 ... Russell had been whistled for only two penalties going into Saturday, when he drew two more ... The Falcons, averaging 2.41 goals against, could set a record. They have given up 183. The franchise low, 215, was set in 1995-96 ... Springfield has won 15 of 18 home games since Dec. 30 ... In April, the Birds will have only two at the MassMutual Center, with seven on the road.