Primary in the penalty concerns was a David Savard major for boarding All-Star rookie Cory Conacher. Conacher was chasing the puck down the left half wall of the Falcons zone, when he accelerated into the corner. Savard had him in his sights and made the initial contact. Savard followed up with a light cross check. However the change in Conacher’s momentum, coupled with the Savard hit, had Conacher land face first against the dasher, knocking his helmet clean off. Play stopped and when it was all done, Savvy took a major for the boarding hit and an automatic game misconduct. The game is what really hurt the Birds, as they didn’t have any extra d-men in the lineup.
The Admirals picked up their first goal with just two seconds remaining on the major power play when Michel Ouellet tallied his 12th of the season. Norfolk finished the period with a 1-0 lead over Springfield.
The wheels came off the wagon in the second period when the Admirals scored three unanswered goals, to open up a four goal cushion.
The Falcons notched two goals late in the third period. First, Matt Calvert picked up his 12th on an assist from Andrew Joudrey at 12:26. Wade MacLeod scored his 6th with help from Martin St. Pierre and Brent Regner on a power play at 17:14.
Not to be outdone, Norfolk collected one more goal at 18:52 of the final period to bring the final score to 5-2.
The teams will meet again on Saturday night at 7PM.