SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – After falling in overtime the night before to the Charlotte Checkers, the Springfield Thunderbirds (13-7-2-2) put up five goals of their own en route to a 5-1 victory over the Binghamton Devils (10-14-3-0) on Sunday afternoon at MassMutual Center.
At the end of the first period, for the second night in a row, the score was deadlocked at 0-0. The Devils, however, led the Thunderbirds in shots 16-9. Both teams had two opportunities on the power play, but neither could capitalize.
Binghamton began the second period with 21 seconds left on a man advantage after Ryan Horvat was called for hooking with 1:39 to play in the opening period, but the T-Birds successfully killed off the penalty.
At the 2:23 mark and operating on a power play after Colton White was called for hooking, Jayce Hawryluk tapped one home from short range to give Springfield a 1-0 lead. The goal was his seventh goal of the season and also gave Hawryluk points in seven consecutive games.
Henrik Borgstrom and Blaine Byron picked up assists on the play.
2:20 later, the Thunderbirds marched into the offensive zone and scored a second unanswered goal, this time off the stick of captain Paul Thompson, who redirected a shot by former Binghamton Devil Jacob MacDonald from the left point. Borgstrom picked up the secondary helper on the play for his second point of the night.
At the 6:22 mark, however, Binghamton got a goal back off the stick of John Quenneville who squeaked a one-time shot through Michael Hutchinson. John Ramage picked up another assist on the tally.
Hutchinson then kept the T-Birds in front in the final minute with a splendid sliding save on a Binghamton shorthanded 2-on-1, keeping the 2-1 score into the final period.
The T-Birds began the third period with 31 seconds remaining on a power play after Colby Sissons was called for high sticking with 1:29 to play in the second period, but the Devils were able to kill the penalty.
At the 6:56 mark, Anthony Greco took an outlet pass by Harry Zolnierczyk and broke down the far wall before beating Johnson over the shoulder in breakaway fashion.
50 seconds later and operating on a power play, Borgstrom put the final nail on Binghamton’s coffin, scoring his fifth of the season and first goal since Oct. 28 vs. Hartford. Ludwig Bystrom and Hawryluk both picked up assists on the play.
Late in the third period and while operating on their sixth power play of the night, Sergei Shumakov corralled a feed by Hawryluk and tapped it home through Johnson’s legs for his first goal as a Thunderbird and fourth of the season.
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