The Springfield Falcons and Providence Bruins are locked in a dogfight for the American Hockey League's best record.
Providence Bruins' center Alexander Khokhlachev (13) battles for control of the puck with Falcons' defenseman Theo Ruth (25).
SPRINGFIELD – This was one of those games where other
than the dependable play of goaltender Curtis McElhinney, not much
went right for the Springfield Falcons.
Unheralded backup goalie Michael Hutchinson made 23 saves for his second
shutout to spark the Providence Bruins to a 2-0 American Hockey
League victory over the Springfield Falcons Saturday night before 5,858 at the MassMutual Center.
This was a battle for the best record in the 30-team AHL and home ice
advantage throughout the playoffs. A Falcons' win in regulation would
have put the teams in a tie for the top spot, but now the P-Bruins own a
four-point lead over the Birds with five regular season games
remaining.
"We've still got a great group of guys in that locker room and I know
they aren't happy with this game,'' Falcons coach Brad Larsen said. "I
know I was frustrated and the players had to be. It was the simple
things that weren't sharp’’.
The Falcons announced they will open the Calder Cup playoffs at home April 27 at 7 p.m. against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
Game 2 of the first round series will be April 28 at 4 p.m.
Providence scored a power-play goal and one short-handed during the
second period to break open a game that was dominated by the two
goalies.
“There’s a reason why they are first overall and they played desperate,
they played urgent and they just outplayed us,’’ Larsen said. “It was
the wrong time for an off night.’’
Carter Camper (power play) and Matt Lindblad (short-handed) scored for the
P-Bruins. The goals came in a span of 2 minutes,
33 seconds.
Providence opened the scoring at
6:45 of the period.
Ryan Spooner, one of the Boston Bruins top prospects, sent a pass to
Camper, who sent a shot from the left side past McElhinney. Then
Lindblad broke in and sailed a 25-foot snap shot past McElhinney's glove.
McElhinney finished with 33 saves.
“He was excellent,’’ Larsen said. “He was the one guy who played the full 60 minutes.’’
The first period was dominated by the P-Bruins. They spent nearly the
whole portion of an early power play in the Falcons' zone and McElhinney
made four sharp saves to keep the game scoreless.
Nick Drazenovic broke in for what looked like a good scoring chance, but
the veteran forward missed the net. The Falcons had a power play late
in the period, but they were unable to put a single shot on net.
“We were flat and they were the better team,’’ Larsen said. “We had our moments, but not enough of them.’’
FALCON FABLES : AHL president David Andrews presented Falcons president and general manager Bruce Landon with the Teddy Oke Trophy as Northeast Division champions . . . Veteran AHL linesman Marty Demers of Suffield was presented with the Golden Stripes Award. Demers, who worked 1,000 AHL games, retired after a 33-year career . . . New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley signed autographs . . . Spencer Machacek, who scored the game-winning
goal with 4:24 left in regulation in Friday’s 3-2 win over Adirondack, has seven points (3 goals 4 assists) over the last four games . . . Nick Holden, who did not dress for the game, scored on the power play Friday, increasing his
point streak to four games (1 goal 7 assists) . . . David Savard has 75
assists in his career as a Falcon, placing him 10th in team history . . . Captain Ryan Craig is tied
for the most goals in Falcons history on the power play with 29,
matching Danny Briere and Jean-Guy Trudel . . . The Falcons’ plus 50
goal differential is the highest in the AHL