HANGOVER 

VERSUS

Five days off for a hockey team can offer a much needed respite from a heavy schedule. Some coaches like the time off to rest and to practice, work on their systems play especially when a team is struggling. When things are going well, some coaches and even some players would prefer to keep playing.

For Connecticut Whale head coach Ken Gernander the time off must have been a mixed bag. Since being rebranded from the Hartford Wolf Pack to the Whale on November 27th, the team was on a 14-3-2 roll and playing extremely well despite a recent 2-3-0 hiccup over the past 5 games.

Given the recent injuries to Jyri Niemi and Devin DiDiomete (both undisclosed) and Wade Redden (lower body) and the call-ups to Ryan McDonagh, Kris Newbury, Dale Weise and Mats Zuccarello, not to mention the two recent additions from Greenville in Sam Klassen and Chris Chappell, Gernander had to be grateful to spend some time with his team and give them a chance to heal as well.

Well apparently the team must have thought they were scrimmaging in practice, because they certainly weren’t going at it at full-speed losing 3-0 to the Portland Pirates at the Cumberland County Civic Center in front of 3,448 Friday night.

The Pirates tallied once in each period with Derek Whitmore putting two of the three past Cam Talbot (26 saves, 7-3-2) who with the defeat suffered his first non-shootout loss in his last eight decisions (6-1-1).

Matt Ellis had the other goal for the Pirates.

David Leggio (21 saves, 10-4-0) was strong when he needed to be when the Whale did manage to put shots on goal that weren’t from the outside. Leggio made a strong stop on Chris Chappell in the first half of the first period when the left winger, playing in his first game since being recalled from the Greenville Road Warriors on Tuesday, got in close to the Pirate netminder.

The game couldn’t have started off any slower for the Whale with the team not getting their first shot until the 6:46 mark. By that point they were outshot 7-1.

About the closest the Whale came to scoring in the first was when Corey Tropp went off for Interference followed 38 seconds later by Marc-Andre Gragnani giving the visitors a 1:22 5-on-3 advantage.

The 5-on-3 lasted all of four seconds as Tim Kennedy, who was a member of the All-Rookie team as a member of the Pirates in 2008-2009, really struggled the entire game in his old barn, before taking a Hooking call. But that wasn’t enough as Kennedy refused to just go off to the penalty box. Kennedy continued to argue the call with Geno Binda. The referee then tagged the Whale centerman with an extra Unsportsmanlike Conduct which gave the Whale a 4-on-3 and then put them shorthanded.

While they weren’t able to do anything with their power play, they actually had some really strong chances while shorthanded. Todd White rocked one off the crossbar and towards the end of the kill Evgeny Grachev blocked a shot and came in with Chad Kolarik 2-on-1 into the offensive zone.  Unfortunately Grachev lost the puck before a pass or a shot could be made.

It looked like The Whale might try and build off the penalty kill but the Pirates just kept coming. With 26.8 left to go in the period, Kennedy lost an edge while moving the puck along the goal line on the right side. The puck was picked up by Mark Mancari and moved behind the net. Stu Bickel laid a hard hit on Dennis McCauley. The Pirate left-winger was able to slide the puck in front where it hit Talbot’s pad. Ellis got in front of Michael Del Zotto, playing in his fourth game since being sent down by the parent New York Rangers, took a couple of whacks at the puck with the last one knocking the puck under the Whale goaltender.

The shots in the period ended 10-5 for the home team.

Whitmore got his first of two at 4:25 of the second period when he snapped a shot from the top of the left circle with Talbot screened.

Talbot made an exceptional save when Maxime Legault burned Del Zotto and had a huge chance in front at 10:35.

With 2:03 to go, Talbot made a tremendous stop on what would have been the third goal when Jared Nightingale’s turnover in the offensive zone led to a 2-on-1 odd-man rush. But the Pirates were unrelenting and with just 1:27 to go Whitmore put his second in the net. The game’s First Star went backhand to forehand and blew right past Del Zotto and lifted a shot that hit the crossbar and fell on Talbot’s back and into the net.

The Whale better hope that the medicine of a bad game removes their collective hangover. The loss dropped them into third place with Portland still holding two games in hand and Providence to contend with Saturday and the AHL’s best team, the Wilkes-Barre Penguins on Sunday.

Bruce Berlet didn’t make the road trip, so Bob Crawford handles the recap at CTWhale.com. The Pirate story’s at PressHerald.com.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

NOTES:

* The loss for the Whale was only the fourth time in the last 21 games that the the team didn’t add a standings point (14-4-0-3).

* At game 42 this was the Whale’s 5th time being shut out. The other times were in Binghamton (1-0, Oct. 22), Toronto (4-0, Nov. 9), Syracuse (5-0, Dec. 19), and Manchester (3-0, Jan.2).

*  In games where the Whale are outshot, they’re 7-9-0-2 and 3-5-0-0 in games decided by 3-goals and 2-13-0-2 when entering the third trailing.

* Oren Eizenman is pointless in his last 10 games. Ryan Garlock in 5, Pavel Valentenko is at 16, Justin Soryal is at 5, Tomas Kundratek at 9 and Jyri Niemi is pointless in 7.

Conversely, Michael Del Zotto has points in 2 of 4. Wade Redden has a three game assist streak going with 7 in the span. Brodie Dupont has 4 goals and 3 assists in his  last 9.

* The Whale loss spoiled the debut of their new two-tone blue with white road jerseys.

LINES:

Grachev – Kennedy – Jeremy Williams
Dupont – Jason Williams – Kolarik
Chappell – White – Tessier
Soryal – Garlock – Eizenman

Del Zotto – Bickel
Klassen– Nightingale
Valentenko – Kundratek

Talbot
Johnson

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Wade Redden – Lower Body, Day-to-Day
Devin DiDiomete – Undisclosed Injury – Day-to-Day
Jyri Niemi – Undisclosed Injury – Day-to-Day

THREE STARS:

1. POR – D. Leggio
2. POR – D. Whitmore
3. POR – M. Ellis

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Geno Binda (22)

Linesmen:
Jeremy Lovett (78)
Landon Bathe (80)

NEXT GAME:

The Whale look to rebound from a rough Friday night up in Portland and get back the winning way on Saturday at the XL Center where they are 8-1-1 in their last ten games. Bob Crawford and the pregame hit the air at a half an hour before the puck drops at 7.

To watch the game live, you can purchased it for $6.99 at AHL-live.

For Ticket information for all home games, call (860) 548-2000.

Too far away or can’t make it? Listen live at WTIC.com or from your cell phone or computer visit www.twitter.com/howlingstoday for complete live in-game coverage of all games both home and away.

SCORE-SHEET:

Connecticut Whale 0 at Portland Pirates 3 – Status: Final
Friday, January 14, 2011 – Cumberland County Civic Center

Connecticut 0 0 0 – 0
Portland 1 1 1 – 3

1st Period-1, Portland, Ellis 7 (McCauley, Mancari), 19:33. Penalties-Bickel Ct (fighting), 8:05; Conboy Por (fighting), 8:05; Tropp Por (interference), 12:31; Gragnani Por (slashing), 13:10; Kennedy Ct (hooking, unsportsmanlike conduct), 13:14.

2nd Period-2, Portland, Whitmore 12 (Roloff, Crawford), 4:25. Penalties-Nightingale Ct (hooking), 1:41; Klassen Ct (high-sticking), 7:16; McCauley Por (holding), 10:55; Nightingale Ct (roughing), 15:37; Legault Por (roughing), 15:37.

3rd Period-3, Portland, Whitmore 13 (Legault, Persson), 18:33. Penalties-Dupont Ct (hooking), 11:56.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 5-10-6-21. Portland 10-10-9-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 3; Portland 0 / 5.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 7-3-2 (29 shots-26 saves). Portland, Leggio 10-4-0 (21 shots-21 saves).
A-3,448
Referees-Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Jeremy Lovett (78), Landon Bathe (80).