Jan 2 Lowell Mass. A bit on the wacky side...
LOWELL, Mass. -- Pretty wacky....Springfield wins 4-3 in a shootout over the Lowell Devils snapping a seven game winless streak. But by their own admission, it never should have come down to a shootout.
Springfield took a cushy lead into the middle stretches of the third period, then coughed the whole thing up when Lowell scored three times in a span of 6:22. That's the same goal challenged Lowellians --made more so by today's callup of Barry Tallackson and Noah Clarke-- which hadn't scored in a stretch of 117:10.
The 3-3 stalemate held through the overtime and into the shootout, which Lowell led 1-0 heading into the last shot, which was taken by Springy's Slava Truckhno.
In one motion, Truckhno shoveled the puck beneath Lowell goalie Frank Doyle, who sat on it as it seeped across the goal line.
Terry Koharski at first signalled a goal, then overruled himself --indicating that he thought that Truckhno had hit the puck a second time-- which gave Lowell cause to head for the dressing room.
Springfield coach Kelly Buchberger, predictably, vented his spleen at Koharski, although no comments were made concerning baked goods.
"We knew Slava didn't touch it (again)," Buchberger said. "The goalie took it in with him."
That's the way Truckhno saw it. However, he never saw the puck actually go across the line.
"I thought I had a good move," he said. "I kind of didn't lift it up. I thought he made the save and I was going back to my bench. But every body was celebrating. I didn't see how it went in. I don't know what the ref was thinking."
Springfield captain Rick Berry discussed the situation with Koharski.
"He thought our guy put it in on a rebound shot," Berry said. "He had to converse with his linesmen. It's pretty obvious that they (Lowell) didn't jump on the ice, so they knew it was in, too. It was good that he took the time to reconsider and talk to his lineys and make the right call."
Rob Schremp put the matter to rest when he pocketed his shot in the next (sixth) round.
The game aside, the dressing room conversation touched heavily on yesterday's Winter Classic in Buffalo. Almost every Falcon watched it, live or via their Ti-Vos.
"I thought it was great," said Buchberger. "It was great to see. Especially the way the outcome came, with Sid scoring the winner in overtime. It couldn't have made it any better for the NHL."
Said Berry, "It was unreal. You saw players go out there and play hard. Play with passion, even with the conditions. You saw that snow, and the puck jumping everywhere. You could see that they were having a lot of fun. I think anyone in this dressing room would do anything to play in a game like that."
Rookie winger Colin McDonald finds that prospect mind-boggling.
"I couldn't even imagine playing in front of that many people," he said. "But I'm just trying to take care of things here, and then when I get there (Edmonton) we can start worrying about it."
McDonald, by the way, scored two of Springfield's regulation goals. It was his first multi-goal game of his brief pro career.
He did, however, have a trio of two-goal games during his four years at Providence College. The most recent of those was two years again, against PC's cross-town enemies, Brown.
"I can't even remember that," he said. "I knew it was a while. Thanks for the reminder. I got the monkey off my back, I guess."
Dan Hickling
in Hockey, American Hockey League
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