Falcons Game 22: Unraveling

In the opening stanza, Connecticut successfully killed off four minors, keeping the game scoreless.

They played with fire once too often though, and with Wade Redden off for tripping, Dane Byers converted an Alexandre Giroux rebound for his fifth marker of the season. Nick Holden drew the other assist.

Tim Spencer scored his first goal as a Falcon at the 5 minute mark, assisted by Wade MacLeod and Ryan Garlock to increase the Springfield lead to 2-0.

Ryan Bourque got the Whale on the board at 8:09 of the second, cutting the margin to 2-1. The second, like the first, saw a big shot advantage for the Falcons. 19-8 in the period, 29-10 after two periods.

And then something happened.

The third period started on a plus for the Falcons, when Dane Byers picked up his second goal of the game. Byers finished off a nice play by Matt Calvert, with Brett Lebda registering the other assist.

Then all hell broke loose.

Here's some "cause and effect":

CAUSE: Martin St. Pierre, hooking at 6:01
EFFECT: Andre Deveaux PPG at 7:44

CAUSE: Alexandre Giroux, double minor at 10:42
EFFECT: Andre Deveaux PPG at 11:08

CAUSE: Nick Holden, interference at 13:16
EFFECT: Jonathan Audy-Marchessault PPG at 14:22

CAUSE: Adam Mair, interference major at 16:25
EFFECT: Kris Newbury PPG at 16:56, Aaron Voros PPG at 19:41

Yes that's FIVE power play goals in just over thirteen minutes of the third period.

One week ago, I speculated that it would be interesting to see how the Falcons responded after dropping the first two games of three last weekend. The Albany Devils squashed the Falcons chance at redemption.

Today, they have another afternoon game at The Nest at 3PM. The Portland Pirates will provide the opposition. Before the season completely falls apart, today's is without a doubt, a must-win game.