Musicmen Mauled by Falcons, 9-1 in 17-18 Season Opener...

The Dayton fans who made the trip to Fort Erie were not happy...

It didn't take long for the optimism of the Musicmen to fade a bit.

Former Musicman Brent Burns made it a point to see that it did.

Before the game was 16 minutes old, Burns had scored once and set up three other first period goals to launch the Falcons to a commanding 4-0 lead.

"I had a good time in Dayton.. won the Cup and all, but no one likes to be traded, so yeah, I had that on my mind tonight. We came out flying in the first and things went our way," said the defenseman.

After a late first period goal by Alex Barkov to make it 4-1, the Falcons systematically shut down any hope the visitors had about tying the game.

"We made way too many mistakes tonight, especially us forwards," said Thomas Vanek. "We were playing too passively. To give them 23 shots on net in the first period, in their rink? What did we think was going to happen? That's a helluva a good team over there. The championship Dayton won last year means nothing. Not a damn thing this year. The team's totally been re-shaped and we're really young up front and we're frankly pretty old on the blueline. If we don't play smart in every game this year, this will happen a lot."

Dayton lost young winger Jonathon Drouin on his second shift of the game when Falcon Evander Kane caught Drouin with his down. Drouin immediately left the game and did not return.

"He didn't see me coming and I clocked him pretty good. He was chirping pretty loudly during warm-ups and it ticked me off. That guy has a ton of skill, but he hasn't really done squat in the league yet. He should be quiet and play harder than he does," said Kane...

"I'll bet he keeps his head up next time..."

Drouin is considered day to day with a stiff neck...

Dayton is back in action on Sunday evening when they travel to Seattle for a 7:00pm game...