The Springfield Thunderbirds opened its final homestand of the 2016-17 AHL campaign with a 4-3 win over the Providence Bruins.
Jayce Hawryluk opened the scoring with an unassisted goal 8:13 into the first period, The goal was Hawryluk’s eight of the season.
The P-Bruins evened things up with 3:06 left in the frame when Jordan Szwarz lit the lamp from Wayne Simpson and Danton Heinen.
Springfield’s Zac Lynch notched his third goal, with the assists going to Stephen MacAuley and Rob Hamilton, at the 14:54 mark of the second period.
Chris Porter tied the game 2:21 later when he beat Adam Wilcox. Porter’s seventh was set up by Peter Cehlarik and Colby Cave.
Thunderbirds’ leading goal-scorer Paul Thompson registered his 18th marker 1:19 into the final period, with the lone assist awarded to Jared McCann, to give the home team its third lead of the night.
Providence fought back again and got the equalizer at 4:58 when Cehlarik bagged his 20th from the combination of Heinen and Simpson.
Matt Buckles struck the decisive blow 2:18 later, collecting his second of the year from McCann and Thompson. Buckles, a fourth-round pick in 2013 who just finished a four-year stint at Cornell University, now has five points in seven AHL games.
Wilcox finished the game with 29 saves to get the win. Malcolm Subban made 23 stops and took the loss for the Bruins.
Springfield (30-33-9-2) will close out the slate with games against Bridgeport on Friday and Hartford on Saturday at MassMutual Center.