SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Thunderbirds (2-8-1-1) put forth a tenacious defensive effort and held off the Laval Rocket (8-5-0-0) for a 3-1 win on Wednesday morning inside a sold out MassMutual Center during the annual T-Birds School Day Game.

A free-flowing and consistent first period effort from the T-Birds earned a reward at 14:20 as Nikita Alexandrov weaved around a check at the offensive blue line and chipped a forehander over the shoulder of Jacob Fowler to give the T-Birds the 1-0 advantage. Steve Konowalchuk’s team outpaced Laval on the shot counter, 9-7 in the opening 20 minutes, with Vadim Zherenko turning away each of the seven offerings that came his way.

Zherenko and Fowler were not overly challenged in a quiet second period that saw just 13 combined shots on net despite t

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