AHL Weekend Recap: Springfield Cooled Off

The Springfield Thunderbirds had a less-than-ideal weekend coming away with zero points out of a maximum of six points. They had a home and home with Syracuse and a meeting with Providence who they had already defeated twice in March. They would go on to drop all three and were outscored 21-8 on the weekend.

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Friday: Springfield Thunderbirds vs. Syracuse Crunch

First Period

Springfield entered the game as one of the hottest teams in the league, things unraveled quickly. The first period saw seven goals from the two teams. Logan Brown got the scoring started for Syracuse as he scored his eighth of the season just over a minute into the game. Conor Geekie added an assist. Just under three minutes in the Crunch made it 2-0 with a goal from Conor Sheary his 15^th of the season. Dylan Duke and Jack Finley contributed on the goal. Once again Syracuse found the back of the net to make it 3-0. Logan Brown scored his second goal of the game just under six minutes into the opening period. Declan Carlile and Max Crozier had assists.

Springfield got on the board just over eight minutes in with a goal from Matt Luff his 18^th. Samuel Johannesson and Otto Stenberg had assists. Just five minutes later Syracuse made it a three-goal game again when Scott Walford scored his first of the season. Finley and Reece Newkirk had assists. Springfield cut the lead to two when Luff scored again. This time he was assisted by Matthew Peca who extended his points streak and Mackenzie MacEachern. Hunter Skinner would get the game to one with his eighth of the season with just under two minutes left in the period. Luff and Peca had assists.

Second Period

In the second period, Syracuse pulled away as Finley scored his 11^th of the season just over two minutes in. Geekie and Derek Pouliot had assists. Wasting no time Daniel Walcott scored 19 seconds later, his third of the season to make it 6-3. Gabriel Szturc had an assist. Just under 11 minutes left in the period Szturc scored. This one was assisted by Carlie and Newkirk. Matthew Peca got one back for Springfield as he scored his 27^th of the season. Skinner and Aleksanteri Kasimaki had assists. It was 7-4 after 40 minutes.

Third period

In the third period, Syracuse put it away as Sheary and Brown each scored again. Brown completed the hat trick. The final was 9-4 Syracuse. Both Thunderbirds’ goalies made an appearance in this one with Colten Ellis stopping six of the ten shots he faced, and Vadim Zherenko stopping 11 of the 16 shots he faced. Syracuse had Matt Tomkins in net, and he turned aside 18 of the 22 shots he faced.

Saturday: Springfield Thunderbirds vs. Syracuse Crunch

On Saturday things went sideways again for Springfield. Logan Brown got Syracuse on the board first for the second consecutive night. Springfield less than two minutes later tied it up at 1-1 as Matt Luff scored his 20^th of the season. Springfield then took the lead with a power-play goal from Nikita Alexandrov just over eight minutes into the period. Dalibor Dvorsky and Samuel Johannesson had assists. The Crunch tied it with under two minutes left as Carlile scored his sixth of the season.

The second period was once again all Syracuse. Springfield did take the lead just over two minutes into the period when Tanner Dickinson scored his fifth of the season. Later in the second period with six and a half minutes left, Joel Teasdale tied the game at three. Less than a minute later Conor Sheary gave Syracuse the lead and then with six seconds left Jack Finley made it 5-3. The Crunch added three goals in the third with Max Crozier, Szturc, and Tobie Bisson all scoring making it 8-3 and that was the final. Colten Ellis got the start and stopped 22 of the 30 shots he faced. Syracuse had Brandon Halverson in net and he stopped 18 of the 21 shots he faced.

Sunday: Springfield Thunderbirds vs. Providence Bruins

On Sunday the Thunderbirds looked to turn things around against Providence but Fraser Minten has other plans. Providence started the scoring with under five minutes left in the period Minten scored his first as a Bruin. Georgii Merkulov and Matthew Poitras added assists. In the second period, Minten scored two more goals to record a hat trick. Springfield got on the board with under eight minutes left when Dalibor Dvorsky scored his 19^th of the season. Providence would make it a three-goal game again with Riley Duran scoring his tenth of the season. Minten had an assist along with Joey Abate. Neither team scored in the third and Springfield dropped their third straight. Zherenko got the start and he stopped 25 of the 29 shots he faced. Providence had Michael DiPietro in goal and he stopped 24 of the 25 Thunderbirds shots he faced.

Next Week:

Springfield will face the Hershey Bears on Wednesday at 7:05 PM EST at the MassMutual Center. Springfield is 0-2-1-0 against Hershey and they’ve allowed four goals per game against the Bears while scoring two goals per game. Saturday they will face the Milwaukee Admirals at home with puck drop set for 7:05 PM EST. Springfield lost to Milwaukee on February 13th, 5-4. On Saturday they will face the Bridgeport Islanders at Total Mortgage Arena. They are 6-3-0-0 against the Thunderbirds this season averaging 1.89 4.1 goals per game while allowing 3.3 goals per game.

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