Falcons sink the Pirates

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The Springfield Falcons won their third straight game beating the Portland Pirates 4-1 at the MassMutual Center on Saturday night. With the win, Springfield moved into a third place tie with the Connecticut Whale for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. The Falcons overall have won six of their last seven games and earned their 30th victory of the year.

The Falcons came out strong in the first period and took an early 1-0 lead when Nikita Filatov knocked in a Tom Sestito rebound just 1:53 into the opening frame. Three seconds after Filatov's goal, Dane Byers and Nick Tuzzolino dropped the gloves and collected fighting majors with Byers scoring the knockdown and keeping the momentum on the side of the Falcons. Just a little over four minutes later, Ben Guite tallied his 11th goal of the year giving Springfield a quick 2-0 lead.

At the 14:29 mark of the opening frame, Portland pulled to within a single goal at 2-1 when Nick Crawford scored his seventh goal of the year.

The second period was scoreless, but it did feature the game's second fight with Nick Tarnasky and Tim Conboy dropping the gloves and collecting fighting majors. Late in the middle stanza, Filatov ended up on a breakaway, but Portland goaltender Jhonas Enroth made the save.

With each team exchanging scoring chances, the Falcons finally expanded their advantage as Sestito tallied his 11th marker of the year at 8:15 of the third period giving Springfield a 3-1 lead. Tomas Kubalik added one more goal for insurance giving the Falcons a 4-1 win.

Goaltender David LeNeveu once again was solid as he won his third straight start stopping 26 of 27 shots on goal.