Michael Chaput scored in the second period to break a 3-3 tie and goalie Curtis McElhinney made it stand up for Springfield.
Springfield's Andrew Joudrey faces off with Albany's Matt Anderson April 2 at the MassMutual Center.
By JAY N. MILLER
WORCESTER – This season’s edition of the Springfield Falcons is nothing if not resilient, and Wednesday night, the Falcons got plenty of chances to prove it.
The Falcons prevailed, 4-3, over a tough Worcester Sharks squad to set a team record for points percentage in a season.
The Falcons, having clinched the Northeast Division title, entered their last road trip chasing several team records, as well as an outside chance for better positioning within the conference.
Springfield had the edge in puck control against the feisty Worcester team when at even strength. The problem was that they seldom got to play that way as the officials called a whopping 17 penalties on the two teams.
“That was a sloppy game all the way through,” said Falcons coach Brad Larsen. “There was zero flow to that game because of the penalties to both teams. A lot of guys were not playing for long stretches, and your penalty-killers and power play are getting used too much.
“There was no rhythm to this game, and we had more turnovers tonight than I can remember. But we found a way to win and we’ll take the two points and get out of here.”
The Falcons didn’t get nearly the start they wanted, taking two penalties within the first 2:37. Worcester took advantage of the 38 seconds of two-man advantage when Eriah Hayes scored from about ten feet out on the left side at 2:57.
Springfield replied with two goals within 2:01 later in the period. Boone Jenner jammed in a power-play tally at 9:15, with Nick Drazenovic and Matthew Ford assisting.
Two minutes later, Michael Chaput and Spencer Machacek converted on a nifty two-man break, with Chaput dishing a perfect left-to-right pass to Machacek, who roofed it to put the Falcons up 2-1.
Worcester battled back, as center Rylan Schwartz broke free along the right boards and got in on Curtis McElhinney. The Falcons goalie made the initial stop, but winger Lane Scheidl poked the rebound home at 15:13.
But Springfield needed just 63 seconds to respond, as Jake Hansen beat Sharks goalie Harri Sateri through the five-hole from point-blank range.
Springfield took another penalty with 20 seconds left in the first, and the Sharks converted on yet another power play with 2.9 ticks left, as Daniil Tarasov beat McElhinny from close in on the right post.
Considering that they’d taken four penalties to just one for their hosts, and been outshot 16-7 in the opening period, the Falcons could’ve been in worse shape than a 3-3 deadlock at that point.
“The first period was frustrating with all the penalties we got, and it was certainly wild – I thought the game would end up 8-7 or something like that,” McElhinney said. “But we settled down nicely, although it was still not the game we are looking for at this point of the season. We were not very consistent all night.”
The Falcons stayed out of the penalty box in the second period, and better yet, Worcester managed to give them five power plays. The Falcons broke the tie at 16:01 of the middle stanza when Chaput pounced on a loose puck as Sateri sprawled by the right post, and poked it in.
Springfield also used those five power plays to reverse the shots-on-net differential, besting the Sharks 11-5.
The third period saw the Sharks take three more penalties, while Springfield was whistled for four. That made for some tense moments for the visitors, including when a puck rolled behind McElhinney on the first Sharks’ power play, and defenseman Andrew Joudrey had to make a clutch sweep-away.
“Mac made some huge saves down the stretch, but we’ve got a lot of work to do before the playoffs,“ Larsen said.
McElhinney came up big midway through the period when he stoned Riley Brace after a Falcons turnover in the high slot, and the Falcons netminder was solid after the crazy first period.
“It was a little busy – they got desperate and started throwing more pucks at the net,” McElhinney said. “I was fortunate and made the stops. We have to stay focused. Winning games is still important to us in this last week.“