Portland, ME- On Sunday afternoon, the Springfield Falcons avoided a weekend sweep by the Portland Pirates with a 4-1 win at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The Falcons were led by goaltender Devan Dubnyk who stopped 33 of 34 shots, as they snapped their four game losing streak.

In the first period, the Falcons took the 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal from Tyler Spurgeon at the 13:14 mark. Cory Urquhart fed Spurgeon the puck from the far left circle and Spurgeon redirected the puck through Bobby Goepfert's pads for his third goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Springfield took a 2-0 lead when Derek Bekar brought the puck up the right wing boards, threw a pass across to Mike Gabinet and he tipped the puck past Pirates goaltender Bobby Goepfert. The goal was Gabinet's 9th of the season with assists credited to Derek Bekar and Colin McDonald.

After a scoreless 2nd period, Springfield took the 2-0 lead into to the third period.

Springfield extended the lead to 3-0 just 15 seconds into the third period. Carl Corizzini banged home a pass from Derek Beckar, the goal was Corizzini's 4th of the season.

The Pirates broke up Dubnyk's shutout bid at the 8:22 mark of the third when Derek Whitmore picked off a clearing attempt from Falcons goaltender Devan Dubnyk, and shot it into the open net to make the score 3-1.

The Falcons wrapped up the scoring at the 18:36 mark when Tim Sestito tallied an empty net goal as the Falcons went on to the 4-1 victory.

Portland goaltender Bobby Goepfert made 19 saves his Pirates debut. Springfield netminder Devan Dubnyk made 33 saves in the win.

Allied Home Mortgage Three Stars of the Game: 1. Devan Dubnyk (SPR) 2. Derek Bekar (SPR) 3. Carl Corizzini (SPR)

Notes: Nathan Gerbe's four game point scoring streak came to an end. Bobby Goepfert made his Portland Pirates debut, ending Jhonas Enroth's consecutive start streak at 13. The record for consecutive starts in one season is held by Pirates Hall of Fame goalie Jim Carey, who made 19 consecutive starts from October 1st–November 18th, during the 1994-95 season.

The Pirates next home game is Saturday, January 17th, a Labatt Blue Light Hockey Night in Portland as the Pirates host the Manchester Monarchs at 7:00pm. Be sure to check out Labatt drink specials at The Stadium from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Fox 23 will be giving away 1,000 complimentary tickets to viewers this week, so tune in to Fox 23 for your chance to win free Pirates tickets for this game. Sugarloaf will also be at the game giving fans a chance to win two season lift tickets!

Fans can follow the Pirates on U.S. Cellular Pirates Radio Network or watch the game LIVE on the internet courtesy of AHL Live by clicking the icon on the left side of the home page. The U.S. Cellular Pirates Radio Network includes the Pirates flagship station, the Bay 1400AM and 1490AM (Portland) and affiliates WEZR 1240 AM (Lewiston-Auburn), WTME 780AM (Rumford) and WKTQ 1450AM (South Paris).