T-Birds Visit Penguins, Devils This Weekend

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Springfield Thunderbirds (9-6-0-0) conclude a three-game week with a road trip on Friday and Saturday to face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (8-5-1-1) and the Binghamton Devils (5-7-3-0).

The weekend begins with the second matchup of the season between the T-Birds and Penguins. Springfield came away with a 4-3 shootout win in the clubs' first meeting on Nov. 2 inside the MassMutual Center. The T-Birds trailed, 3-2, in the final half of the third period before Owen Tippett buried a game-tying goal. Philippe Desrosiers then turned aside all but one shootout attempt to give Springfield its sixth straight victory, which tied a club record. Daniel Audette and Aleksi Saarela also tallied for the T-Birds in the win.

The Penguins head into the matchup with the T-Birds having won three games in a row to climb to within two points of Springfield in the tight Atlantic Division race, and the Penguins have held an advantage over the T-Birds inside the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, where Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is 6-2-0-0 all-time against their division rivals since 2016.

The Thunderbirds then make their first visit to Binghamton in the 2019-20 season to take on the Devils, who sit in the cellar of the North Division with just five wins in their first 15 games. However, Binghamton has played some of its most spirited hockey in recent times, picking five of a possible six points in their last three contests. Springfield has enjoyed success at Binghamton, going 3-1-1-0 in their prior five visits. Overall, the Thunderbirds finished 3-0-1-0 against the Devils a season ago.

With their 2-1 win over the Phantoms on Wednesday morning, the Thunderbirds now find themselves as the best defensive team in the AHL, allowing a minuscule 2.19 goals per game. Goaltender Chris Driedger again finds himself atop the AHL leaderboard in save percentage with a .945 mark through his first 11 games to go along with a 1.82 goals against average (3rd best in the AHL). Driedger has seen more ice time than any other Eastern Conference goaltender this year.

After finishing this stretch of five road games over a period of six contests, the Thunderbirds will be back on home ice for seven of the following nine games, beginning with a visit from the Penguins on Friday, Nov. 22 at 7:05 p.m.

For more ticket information or to become a 2019-20 Springfield Thunderbirds ticket package member, or to purchase single game tickets, call (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or visit www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.