Easy night at Acrisure as Firebirds cruise to 4-0 victory over Henderson
Was it Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson or Coachella Valley Firebirds forward Andrew Poturalski who so poetically described the state of the hockey team, playing for the first time in seven days after the league's annual All-Star break?
"The quote of the night was from Poturalski," Firebirds goaltender Chris Driedger described after the team's convincing 4-0 victory over the Henderson Silver Knights. "He said 'A well-rested bird flies higher.' So I liked that one a lot, so now we're going to have to put that into action."
Well, these well-rested 'Birds did fly high on Saturday as they were in total control of the game from start to finish, collecting a rare-for-this-season easy home win and reclaiming first place in the Pacific Division in the process.
Logan Morrison scored two goals, Connor Carrick had three assists, and Driedger pitched a shutout on what was a generally festive atmosphere for the 8,392 fans at Acrisure Arena as the Firebirds haven't had a more lopsided win at home since a five-goal victory on Halloween.
The win marks the ninth straight game the Firebirds have gained at least a point in the standings, moving to 7-0-1-1 during this hot streak. The week off didn't disrupt their flow at all.
Head coach Dan Bylsma said a long break like that can give a coach some anxiety, never quite sure if the team that comes back will be playing at the same level as the team that left, so he was quite pleased with what he saw on the ice Saturday night.
"Having that much time away from the ice is a scary thing for a coach," Bylsma said. "And (Henderson) played last night so they got their 'break legs' out from underneath them so I was a little concerned going into this one to see how the break affected us. But, good on the guys. Whatever they did during the break it was a good thing. They came out great, and played great the whole 60 minutes."
With two points for the win and Tucson gaining just one point for an overtime loss to Iowa on Saturday, the Firebirds (27-12-4-2) regained sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division with 60 points to Tucson's 59. The Firebirds were wearing special pink jerseys in this game for "Pink in the Rink" night aimed at raising awareness for the fight against cancer. Jerseys had pink camouflage sleeves and a pink Firebird emblazoned on the front.
Some of the guys shared what they did during their week off. Driedger went to Maui. Morrison went home to Guelph (in Ontario near Toronto). Coach Bylsma went to Salt Lake City with his wife to visit their son who lives there. Bylsma went fishing (he caught one trout) and skiing. And Carrick went to the happiest place on Earth.
"Yeah I kind of grinded it out through the rain at Disneyland, we took our 3-year-old son," Carrick said. "This was the first time he was able to go on the rides, he's about 39.9 inches tall and you have to be 40, but they let him go. Some of the rides he loved, some he was afraid of, but yeah it was fun, a core memory for sure."
Despite their varied vacation locales, everyone came back with a singular focus and it showed. Driedger said he's starting to see something he recognized in last year's team: Swagger.
"We're playing fast, we're well-prepared and when we went through a little bit of a lull earlier in the season we didn't have that swagger that we had last year and I'm kind of seeing a little more of that, it's kind of tangible," said Driedger, who had 20 saves in his shutout. "But it's kind of the chicken-or-the-egg thing, does the swagger come with the winning or does the winning come because of the swagger? Either way, we are a confident bunch right now."
The goals
Firebirds 1-0: Logan Morrison took a pretty cross-ice pass from Connor Carrick and zipped it past the Henderson goalie for a quick Firebirds lead
Firebirds 2-0: Cameron Hughes put the FIrebirds up 2-0 with a goal not unlike the first one as again it was Carrick
Firebirds 3-0: Luke Henman, just as fans were lamenting a wasted power play, cruised in on goal as the teams went back to 5-on-5 and scored midway through the second period to give the Firebirds a three-goal advantage.
Firebirds 4-0: The rout is officially on as Morrison finds a puck near the left side of the net and flicks it into the upper corner of the net past the Henderson keeper with 6:30 to go in the second period.
What's next
The Firebirds get four more days off before returning to action at Acrisure for what is the fifth game of a seven-game homestand. On Thursday they host San Jose, on Saturday they host Colorado and on Sunday these same Silver Knights return.
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Have a question about the Firebirds, the AHL or Acrisure Arena? Send him an email at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella Valley Firebirds in total control in 4-0 win over Henderson
