Saturday, March 6, 2010

Devils Fall to Falcons in Firefight, 7-5
Minard and Wiseman each notch two goals versus former team

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Chris Minard and Chad Wiseman were both able to register a pair of goals against their former team to lead the Springfield Falcons to a 7-5 victory over the Lowell Devils on Saturday at the MassMutual Center.  A two-goal, one-assist night from Matt Halischuk was not enough for the Devils as Falcons goalie Bryan Pitton made 37 saves for his first AHL win. 

With Lowell down, 4-1, early in the second period, Halischuk did his best to rally the team from behind.  After Alexander Vasyunov had his long slapshot turned away by Pitton, Halischuk deposited his second of the night at the 6:18 mark of the period to cut the Springfield lead to two.
 
Halischuk then fed Tim Sestito for a one-timer from the slot that pulled Lowell with one midway through the second.

The Falcons, however, would have an answer all night for everything that Lowell threw at them.  Wiseman’s second of the game put the Falcons back up, 5-3, as he raced the left side before cutting to the crease and sending a snapshot past the glove of Frazee with five minutes left until the intermission. 

Nathan Perkovich banged home his 15th of the season at 8:01 of the third to cut the lead to back one, but Minard pushed Springfield’s lead to 6-4 just over two minutes later with a marker on the man-advantage. 

The Devils would get within a goal for the third time as Matt Cohen beat Pitton on the power play with a long wrist shot at 13:47 of the third.  Despite being outshot 18-4 in the final frame, the Falcons and Ryan MacMurchy put the game away on an empty-netter with 24.1 seconds left in regulation.  Frazee took the loss with 21 saves on 27 shots. 

Not even a minute had ticked off the clock before Colin MacDonald gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead as his shot from the near corner found a crevice between Frazee and the near post.

The Devils would make it one all at 14:30 during a power play when Matt beat a screened Pitton with a wrist shot from the right circle. 

Springfield would light the lamp twice in the final minutes of the first to take a 3-1 edge into the locker room.  Skating with the 5-on-4 advantage, Wiseman swept down toward a blocked shot that sat in the Devils crease and pounded in the puck at 16:31.  Less than a minute later, Slava Trukhno led a three-on-one rush and sailed a wrister through the six-hole of Frazee. 

The Lowell Devils travel to Providence to face-off against the Bruins on Sunday, Mar. 7 at 4:05PM. Go online to AHLlive.com to listen or watch all of the live Devils action.  For tickets to Devils home games, call (978) 458-PUCK or go to www.lowelldevilshockey.com.

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