SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (22-27-5-2) put forth a big push down the stretch but succumbed to a late goal in falling 2-1 against the Iowa Wild (19-30-4-1) on Saturday night before the ninth consecutive Pink in the Rink sellout crowd of 6,793 inside the MassMutual Center.

The two clubs, who combined for 23 goals in two games in Des Moines in February, continued a weekend of tight checking in the opening period, with young netminders Will Cranley of Springfield (eight saves) and William Rousseau of the Wild (nine saves) turning away every shot that reached the target in period one. Dillon Dube came the closest to breaking the tie for Springfield, ringing the post behind Rousseau with one offering.

The Thunderbirds were frequent penalty killers in the opening half of the game, and the Wild finally connected as their fourth power play began at 9:01 of the third, as Dylan Gambrell stole a clearing attempt, firing a shot on net to force a rebound off Cranley's pads. Tyler Pitlick drove to the rebound and backhanded it under Cranley to make it a 1-0 game as the veteran potted his ninth goal in 14 AHL games this season. 

Cranley had to atone for his own gaffe late in the period when he turned a puck over right in front of an open goal, but he recovered to sprawl back into his crease and make a stop to hold the score at 1-0 into the third.

Steve Ott's team emptied the tank in the final period, to the tune of an 18-5 shot advantage. After failing to connect on two more power plays, the T-Birds used a great effort on the rush to finally crack into the scoresheet as Matthew Peca made a perfect drop pass onto the tape of Hugh McGing, who one-timed it through Rousseau to even the score at 13:49.

The Thunderbirds had thoughts of jumping to the lead down the stretch, but Rousseau and Iowa kept Springfield from a tie-breaking goal. Instead, it would be the visitors who tasted victory late in the third. After a misplay at the offensive blue line from the T-Birds, Jean-Luc Foudy raced up the ice to set up a 2-on-1 with Gambrell, who one-timed a shot past a stretching Cranley with exactly 2:00 remaining in regulation. Springfield's last-ditch efforts with Cranley on the bench for a sixth attacker came up empty, and Iowa completed the two-game sweep of the weekend. The visiting team won each of the four matchups in the season series between the teams.

The T-Birds return to a sold-out Thunderdome on Wednesday, March 11 as they host the Providence Bruins for the first of two games wearing St. Patty's Day specialty jerseys. Puck drop is set for 6:05 p.m., which will be followed by a postgame concert by the Dropkick Murphys. 

Single-game tickets and ticket memberships for all remaining games in the Thunderbirds' 2025-26 season are available now - fans can order now by visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625).