AHL Weekend Recap: Springfield Thunderbirds Can’t Buy a Win 

The Springfield Thunderbirds after a hot start to the month just can’t seem to buy a win. They started the weekend off against the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday before wrapping it up with a game against the Bridgeport Islanders on Saturday. 

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Friday: Springfield Thunderbirds vs. Milwaukee Admirals 

The Admirals wasted no time getting on the board. Just over four minutes into the game Grigori Denisenko scored his 11th of the season. Ozzy Wiesblatt added an assist. In the second period, just over 12 minutes into the Thunderbirds tied it up with a power-play goal from Nikita Alexandrov. Matthew Peca and Dalibor Dvorsky added assists. Just under three minutes later the Admirals took the lead again as Ondrej Pavel scored his seventh of the season. Kevin Wall and Andres Bjork recorded assists. In the third, just over four minutes in Mark Friedman scored his second of the season to make it 3-1 Milwaukee. Denisenko and Jake Lucchini added assists. With just over a minute left the Admirals added the dagger as Joakim Kemell scored an empty net goal to make it 4-1. 

The Thunderbirds’ had Colten Ellis in net and he stopped 34 of the 37 shots he faced. Milwaukee had Matthew Murray in net, and he turned aside 23 of the 24 shots he faced.

Saturday: Springfield Thunderbirds vs. Bridgeport Islanders 

On Saturday Springfield couldn’t right the ship as they faced the team in last place in the Atlantic Division. Just over 4.5 minutes into the game Chris Terry scored his 19th of the season to make it 1-0 Islanders. Marshall Warren and Isaiah George added assists. Just under four minutes past Springfield tied it with a goal from Alexandrov. Matthew Peca and Samuel Johannesson recorded assists.

In the second period, the Islanders took the lead again as Adam Beckman scored his 15th of the season. Gemel Smith and Samuel Bolduc had assists. Beckman added another goal in the second to make it 3-1 Bridgeport. Terry and Brian Pinho had assists on that goal. Just over 1.5 minutes into the third the Islanders made it 4-1 as Cam Thiesing scored his fifth of the season. That would do it and the Thunderbirds drop another game 4-1. Vadim Zherenko got the start and stopped 31 of the 35 shots he faced. Bridgeport had Henrik Tikkanen in net and he stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced.

Next Week:

Springfield will face the Iowa Wild on Friday and Saturday both games will be at the MassMutual Center. Both games will be at 7:05 PM EST. Springfield is 2-0-0-0 against Iowa this season and has averaged 5.5 goals per game while allowing 1.5 goals per game this season against the Wild. Sunday they will face the Providence Bruins at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Puck drop is set for 3:05 PM EST. Springfield is 6-3-0-2 against Providence this season averaging 2.7 goals per game while allowing 2.9 goals per game.

ITR 43: It's Winning Time – Inside The Rink

Join Chris and Conrad as they break down the Chris Kreider trade, the Calder Cup Final, and the Stanley Cup Final drawing to an end.

1. ITR 43: It's Winning Time 39:10
2. ITR 42: Ripe For Repeat? 29:05
3. ITR 41: Stanley Cup Final – The Rematch 46:47
4. ITR 40: Headed For A Repeat? 32:22
5. ITR 39: Conference Finals 35:18