Falcons Screech Past Admirals 5-2

Photo Credit: John Wright/Norfolk Admirals

The Springfield Falcons swept the Norfolk Admirals in the last game of the weekend series 5-2.  The Falcons took the reins early in the 1^st period when Dalton Smith snuck the puck past Admirals goalie Igor Bobkov on his backhand which put the Falcons in the driver's seat.  Just 47 seconds after the Smith goal, 1^st year pro Chris Wagner found a Mat Clark rebound and stuffed it past Falcons netminder Paul Dainton tying the tilt at 1-1. The Falcons broke the tie on a power play with just seconds remaining in the first.  John Moore attempted to put a shot on net; however; the puck deflected off an Admirals defenseman and beat Bobkov pulling Springfield ahead 2-1.  Springfield held the advantage in the shots 15-9. The Falcons doubled up on their lead by the way of Tim Erixon on an odd man rush which consisted of tape to tape passes for the Falcons.  Erixon rifled home his 4^th goal of the season which furthered the Falcons lead 3-1.  Norfolk Admirals left wing John Kurtz lit a fire under the team when he dropped the mitts with Michael Chaput in the middle stanza.  Kurtz spoke about the fight saying, 'It's frustrating when you go down 2 goals at home.  I just tried to put a little life on the bench.'  Kurtz lit a spark under the Admirals offense as Peter Holland zipped the puck past Dainton’s glove side on a breakaway that made the score 3-2.  Kurtz also stated, 'It's nice to see a goal while you're in the box.  It's nice to see the team go out and respond scoring a big goal.'  Norfolk had the upper hand in shots during the 2^nd outshooting Springfield 12-8. Norfolk tried to pull things back together in the final frame, but fell victim to a Nick Holden goal and an empty net shorthanded goal scored by Dennis Savard that sealed the 5-2 victory for Springfield.  Norfolk was 0 for 5 on the power play while Springfield was 1 for 9 with the man advantage. Norfolk ended the night with 35 shots as Springfield totaled 31.   Kurtz stated, 'You need to come to the next game with positive thoughts and positive feelings otherwise slumps will only get worse if you think about them.'  Norfolk looks to break out of the winless slump Wednesday night at home against one of the hottest teams in the American League, the Charlotte Checkers.  The puck drops at Scope in downtown Norfolk at 7:15 pm.

This article was originally published at: The Hockey Writers.