SPRINGFIELD, MA – After falling 3-1 in their previous meeting with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the Springfield Thunderbirds were looking to get payback on Friday night.
Midway through the second period, Thunderbirds’ fans were enthralled when their guys scored two goals in the first ten minutes of the second period.
However, much to their dismay, this was all they would get, as they watched in shock as their team fell on their swords when Jack Rathbone concluded a run of three unanswered goals when he scored just over a minute into overtime – giving the visitors a 3-2 victory Friday night.
“Overall I thought we weren’t very good,” head coach Drew Bannister said. “I thought from the start we wanted an easy game and we weren’t willing to work for it. Regardless of the shot count, I felt that we got what we deserved. I didn’t think we deserved to win tonight.”
At the end of the first period, the score was tied at 0-0, but the Thunderbirds appeared to have an edge, finishing finished with 18 shots on goal to the Penguins six after 20 minutes.
The early lead
5:32 into second period, however, on the Thunderbirds’ 23rd shot on goal, they broke the scoreless tie off a net-front wrist shot by Nathan Walker. Walker took a feed from Matthew Peca from behind the net, and took the puck from his forehand to his backhand and beat Magnus Hellberg.
Just over three minutes later, and operating on the power play this time, Walker gave Dylan Coghlan a perfect feed at the right circle.
Coghlan wasted no time, taking a slap shot on the one-timer feed that deflected off of Nick Suzuki’s skate and into the back of the net. The goal put Springfield up 2-0 over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton nine minutes into the middle stanza.
The turning point
After two periods, the game seemed to be in hand for the Thunderbirds, but the Penguins just under nine minutes into the third period Rem Pitlick said not so fast and wristed the puck past Malcolm Subban from the left point, cutting the lead in half.
Just over six minutes later, Matt Filipe beat Subban five-hole on a soft shot as he fell down, tying the game at two goals apiece and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I don’t know if I’m learning anything,” Bannister said. “I’m here to win hockey games, and winning hockey games isn’t easy. You have to work for it, no one’s going to hand it to you. This league’s too good, the players are too good. If you think you’re going to walk in and it’s going to be easy, this is what happens.”
What’s next for Springfield?
Springfield is back in action on Saturday when they take on the Penguins in the final game of the season series at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza – puck drop is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
