The end to end action in this game was for the most part non-stop. Except for a brief time late in the second period, the Falcons matched the Bruins straight up.
The Falcons were the first to get on the board when Alexandre Giroux notched a power play goal at the 10:52 mark of the opening stanza. The puck movement by the Falcons has been strong on the power play for most of the season (the Birds are 6th in the AHL), on this power play, they “kicked it up a notch”. Precision passing, deep penetration in the Bruins zone and finally Giroux finishing a feed from Falcons leading scorer, Martin St. Pierre. David Savard picked up the secondary assist for starting the play.
The Baby B’s cashed in six minutes later when Josh Hennessy collected his ninth goal of the season. The shots on goal in the first period really tell the story of the action. The Falcons outshot the Bruins 18-16 in the first period.
A scoreless second period followed. The teams exchanged minor penalties in the period with Martin St. Pierre going off for holding at 1:43, while
took two for hooking at 7:03.
Shots on goal in the second period were 10-9 in favor of the Falcons. The two period totals were 28-25 for the Falcons in a game in which both
and
were matching each other save for save.
The defensive battle continued into the third period. The Falcons took three minor penalties in the period.
was sent off for tripping at 2:21.
was whistled for a cross check at 8:07. Before the final penalty though, the Falcons collapsed in their defensive zone and with just 2:39 remaining in the final period,
converted for his third goal of the season, giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead.
Martin St. Pierre took a boarding penalty with just over two minutes left on the clock, in essence taking away the possibility of pulling Legace for the extra skater. With under a minute left, Legace was pulled, but to no avail as the Bruins held the Falcons at bay with Khudobin coming up big one more time to thwart the Falcons comeback effort.
1. Kyle MacKinnon
2. Anton Khudobin
3. Manny Legace
The Falcons will be back on the road Saturday night when they travel to Albany to take on the Devils. The Devils took it on the chin Friday night, losing to the Worcester Sharks by a score of 5-1.