PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Springfield Thunderbirds (29-24-2-0) could not overcome a quick second period burst from the Providence Bruins (30-18-3-3), who came away with a 7-4 win on Saturday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

As has become the T-Birds’ M.O. of late, they would have to turn into comeback artists in the opening period, as Brendan Gaunce opened the scoring at 9:52 to make it 1-0 Bruins. Zach Senyshyn set him up all alone on the doorstep after a Springfield turnover made it a 2-on-1 for Providence.

Despite allowing a 1-0 goal for the seventh straight game, the T-Birds battled back to tie for a fourth straight game, as Ryan Haggerty cruised down the right wing off the rush, where newcomer Mason Marchment spotted him perfectly with a cross-ice pass to tie the game at 12:50 by the score of 1-1. Of Haggerty’s five Springfield goals, this marked his third against the Bruins.

The tie score would only last a little over a minute, though. After Trent Frederic bulled his way to the slot to draw a delayed penalty, Bruins captain Paul Carey arrived to the loose puck and twisted a turnaround shot through Ryan Bednard to make it a 2-1 Providence lead at 14:32 of the period.

One more time, the Thunderbirds had a quick reply. On their second of three power play chances in the first, Henrik Borgstrom crashed the slot area, and Ethan Prow hammered a one-time feed from Aleksi Heponiemi off Borgstrom’s stick and past Providence goaltender Dan Vladar.

Vladar had entered with AHL-best figures in goals against average (1.79) and save percentage (.936%), but the T-Birds dented him twice on just eight first period shots, while Bednard stopped 11 of 13 for Springfield.

The second period did not start pretty for the Thunderbirds, as Jack Studnicka beat Bednard just 1:36 into the period to restore the Bruins lead to 3-2. 1:17 later, Carey added a second goal off a 2-on-1 pass from Trent Frederic. Gaunce would follow with his second goal of the game some 36 seconds later and the Providence lead ballooned to 5-2, forcing Bednard’s removal from the game.

Upon his entry to the game, Philippe Desrosiers also saw himself victimized by the Bruins as Peter Cehlarik one-timed a power play goal over the goalie’s glove at 7:07 to cap off a run of four unanswered Bruins goals to expand the lead to 6-2.

To their credit, the Thunderbirds would not go away quietly. Rodrigo Abols found a patch of open ice in the slot area, then wristed a shot over the blocker arm of Vladar at 8:16 to get the deficit down to three, 6-3.

3:31 later, Aleksi Heponiemi picked up his second goal of the weekend as he crashed the net on the left wing, scooped a feed from Abols, and beat Vladar to cut it to a 6-4 game, a score that would hold into the second intermission.

However, on this night, the T-Birds ran out of offensive magic, and Robert Lantosi picked up another one for Providence at 1:34 of the third, setting himself in front of the net following a Desrosiers turnover and beating the netminder.

Desrosiers otherwise kept the T-Birds within range, stopping 15 of 17 shots in relief in the effort. In his T-Birds debut, Marchment recorded two assists, while Danick Martel also chipped in a two-point game with a pair of helpers.

The T-Birds look to come away with a winning record in the 3-in-3 on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. as they welcome the Syracuse Crunch to the MassMutual Center. 

For more ticket information or to become a 2020-21 Springfield Thunderbirds ticket package member, or to purchase single game tickets, call (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or visit www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.