The Springfield Thunderbirds (13-7-2-2) rolled to a big 5-1 home ice win over the Binghamton Devils on Sunday to post a 1-1-1 record this weekend, moving into a third place tie with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the Atlantic Division.
On Friday, the visiting Thunderbirds were beaten by a 5-2 count by the Utica Comets at Adirondack Bank Center. Jayce Hawryluk opened the scoring with a first period goal from Blaine Byron and Henrik Borgstrom and set up Sebastian Repo midway through the second period to give Springfield a 2-1 lead. The Comets scored the last four goals, two in the second and two in the third, to win going away. Samuel Montembeault took the loss, finishing with 25 saves on 30 shots.
Springfield blew a two-goal lead late in the game and fell 5-4 in overtime to the visiting Charlotte Checkers on Saturday when Trevor Carrick beat Michael Hutchinson 3:29 into the extra session. Hutchinson finished with 29 saves and dropped to 2-2-2 on the season. Anthony Greco scored twice and added an assist and Jake Horton and Harry Zolnierczyk also scored for the T-Birds. Jacob MacDonald set up two goals and Jayce Hawryluk also picked up a helper. Springfield led 4-2 in the final minute, but Jake Bean (19:04) and Andrew Poturalski (19:28) scored for Charlotte to send the game to overtime.
The Thunderbirds and Hutchinson (42 saves) rebounded nicely from the tough defeat on Sunday, beating the Devils 5-1. Henrik Borgstrom and Jayce Hawryluk each had a goal and two assists to power the offense. The other goal-scorers were Paul Thompson, Anthony Greco and Sergei Shumakov. Ludwig Bystrom and Jacob MacDonald had two assists and Blaine Byron and Harry Zolnierczyk also collected helpers.
No game action for the Florida Panthers tonight. The Cats will take on the St. Louis Blues tomorrow night at 8 p.m.