SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Springfield Thunderbirds (9-10-1-4) got their first shutout victory of the year behind 25 Joel Hofer saves in a 2-0 win over the Milwaukee Admirals (15-7-0-1) on Saturday night before a sold-out crowd of 6,793 on Teddy Bear Toss night at the MassMutual Center.
Springfield came out of the gates swinging in the opening period, outshooting the Admirals by a 13-3 margin in the opening 20 minutes. Matthew Highmore brought the teddy bears down from every corner of the arena when he tapped in a back-door pass from Nikita Alexandrov on a power play at 6:07 of the period, making it 1-0.
There would not be another goal in the contest until the final period, but it was not for a lack of chances. Anthony Angello narrowly missed a goal on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box in the second, as he rang a shot off the inside of the post behind Milwaukee netminder Devin Cooley’s glove.
At the other end, the Admirals power play had seven chances throughout the night to try to dent Hofer, but each time, the Springfield penalty kill and their netminder turned away Milwaukee’s bids for goals.
On one such penalty kill in the final period, rookie Jake Neighbours put the game away when he stole the puck from Cooley near the goal line and beat the diving netminder to the opposite side of the net to tuck home a wraparound backhander at 6:30 of the third. Neighbours’ first goal in the AHL made it 2-0, and Hofer and the defense locked down the net front from that point onward.
Through his first 17 games this season, Hofer finds himself fifth in the AHL in save percentage (.927) and goals-against average (2.28). Saturday’s 25-save effort was Hofer’s fourth career AHL shutout and second as a Thunderbird.
The T-Birds, who have earned five of a possible six points over their last three games, embark on a four-game road trip beginning on Wednesday night at Total Mortgage Arena against the Bridgeport Islanders.
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