WHALE MATH… 3 + 5 = -2 

VERSUS    

With five players returned from the New York Rangers, expectations were high that the Connecticut Whale were going to be a formidable opponent to play against when the Manchester Monarchs visited the XL Center. For the most part they were, but a 5:06 minute lapse in the quality of their play gave the Monarchs all they would need scoring three unanswered goals and they’d later add an empty netter for a 4-2 road win in front of 5,802 Friday night.

Head Coach Ken Gernander knew that the five minute lapse in the second period where AHL All-Star defenseman Viatcheslav Voynov, Brandon Kozun and Bud Holloway rallied the visitors after falling behind 1-0 in the first on an Evgeny Grachev goal.

“Within that (five-minute span), we made some big mistakes that I’m sure we’ll have to address,” The fourth year Whale head coach said. “It’s not that we went flat or disappeared for a segment of time. The goals came in a short span, but there were some big mistakes in that span. I’m not going to single guys out, but some of our mistakes were by some of our more key players, and that’s always disappointing.

“Throughout the course of a game, people are going to make mistakes, people are going lose the odd battle, but it was just the general kind of malaise and some mistakes that were beyond just mistakes, kind of bonehead plays instead of just the mistake that you make in the course of a game. After some of those mistakes, I don’t think the effort was there to try to recover or correct the situation.”

Michael Del Zotto, a member of last season’s NHL ALL-Rookie team and now back for a second stint in Hartford after being sent back from the Rangers, agreed that that span cost the team two points. “We didn’t play a 60-minute game,” He said. “I know from the first day I got here that’s one thing we’ve talked about, you need to play 60 minutes. The penalty kill did a good job (4-for-4), but it kills you when you just don’t take care of the puck for a couple of shifts.

“They did a really good job in the neutral zone, and we were trying to make plays through them when all we really had to do is chip it by them and become the first guy on the forecheck. When we were doing that, we were successful and scored our goal in the second when we had 45 seconds battling them down low.

“When we did that, we were successful, but we didn’t do it on a consistent basis. And turnovers really kill you, especially in the neutral zone, and that’s what happened. There were a couple of shifts back-to-back that hurt us and ended up costing us the game.”

Among the more guilty Friday night was fourth year pro, and one of those sent back from New York, Brodie Dupont.

The Russell, Manitoba native had a rough night. It was Dupont’s turnover in the neutral zone and then just giving up and not pursing Holloway on the play that allowed him to come in all alone on Whale starter Chad Johnson (30 saves, 14-16-3) and score what would prove to be the game winner.

“You never want to obviously make mistakes,” Dupont said. “Mine was pretty blatant mistake. It was a lazy mistake. Those are ones that hurt the team. I love playing for the team so and I had to go out there and try and make up for what I did. I shouldn’t be putting myself in that position to begin with.”

But mistakes were not the entire story.

Martin Jones (26 saves, 17-5-0) was slid in the net for Manchester. “(Jones) was pretty good,” Gernander said. “There were no muffins. I thought we had some pretty good chances where he made some good saves and we hit a post and other things, but I think he’s a really good goalie.”

Jones was challenged all night.

Just 2:55 into the contest Dupont was stoned and then at 5:05 Jason Williams was denied by Jones’s glove.

At 7:09, Johnson stopped an almost certain goal. Kozun came in hard from the right circle and put a shot on net that was a tough stop in-and-of-itself. The puck rebounded out to the left side of the crease where Kozun had an empty net to throw it into. Johnson made a lightning quick reflex move and dove to his right flashing the glove and swallowing up Kozun’s second bid.

Two crushing hits followed by Dale Weise, the first came on defenseman Thomas Hickey and the other just seconds later when Weise buried Hickey’s partner David Kolomatis at the nine minute mark. The hits sparked the crowd and lifted his Whale teammates who would get their first and only lead of the game shortly thereafter.

After a defensive zone draw to Johnson’s right, the puck was won back to Voynov who fired a shot on goal. Johnson blocked it away with his left leg and sent the puck out to the left faceoff circle where Grachev and Jake Muzzin banged for control. The puck got sent around the board s behind the net where it was picked up by Kozun at the half-boards. He attempted to send it back to Voynov at the point, but Tim Kennedy picked it off, chipped it past it’s intended target, picked it up and rushed up ice along the right wing wall. Kennedy stopped in the right corner and spun and threw the puck to the front of the net. Grachev was wide open as Voynov stopped in the right circle and never picked him up. Grachev, who’s been red-hot of late and might finally be becoming the player that all the hype has surrounded since he was drafted in round 3 (#75 overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, redirected the puck up and over Jones for his 13th of the season and seventh goal in his last four games. The goal came at 11:23.

Jones responded to the goal with a strong stop on a Stu Bickel one-timer off a Kelsey Tessier setup pass and with just 1.7 seconds left, Jones wiped out a great shot from the right side by Weise.

Jones still was standing tall when he rejected Tessier’s big shot from a Tomas Kundratek pass at 2:26.

Johnson then matched the efforts of his netminding opponent with a terrific  stop of his own on Justin Azevedo at 4:59.

But then the wheels came off.

At 5:14, Richard Clune fed David Meckler for a shot from the right side that hit the post hard. The puck deflected at an angle right up the slot, just past Weise’s stick, out to a waiting Voynov on the right point. Voynov unloaded a cannon and drilled it over Johnson’s glove for the equalizer.

1:02 later, Corey Elkins left a drop pass for Kozun in the left circle. Chad Kolarik didn’t pick up Kozun who put in a magnificently accurate shot that flew over Johnson’s glove and just inside the far post for his 11th of the year.

The tragic three was completed when Dupont turned the puck over in the neutral zone to Holloway and then just stood and watched as Holloway had a break-in alone and despite Bickel’s efforts to get in front of the puck, Holloway also went top shelf to beat Johnson.

The Whale got their forecheck going after that terrible goal and it paid dividends.

Dupont, looking to make up for his mid-ice blunder, was a demon on the puck in the Monarch’s end.

“We were working it (the forecheck) with me, Tessier and (Soryal) down low,” Dupont said as he described the goal. “We were having a pretty good shift when Tess changed and Weise jumped on the ice. When I through it to the wall, I was looking for the d-man, but Weisy jumped up on and took it and when he gave it to me (below the goal line), I just wanted to get it back to him because I knew he was going to be open, so I just wanted to get it back to him as quickly as I can, he’s got that good of a release and Weisey did the rest.”

Weise added his third goal in the last two games over Jones’s blocker.  The goal was Weise’s 10th of the season in just 18 games.

The Whale had their chances in the third period but were unable to convert. Kennedy had a pass stopped by Hickey on a 2-on-1 odd man rush with Grachev at 4:56 and then Kennedy had another try when he had a breakaway at 7:37 but his shot hit the post.

With a five man grouping of Wade Redden and Del Zotto on the points and Kennedy, Weise and Kris Newbury up front, the Whale were unable to get enough shots on net to score on their one power play of the period. Marc-Andre Clich, a one time Rangers draft pick who was part of the trade that brought Sean Avery to New York, covered the puck behind the net with his hand and was called for a delay of game at 14:02.

With just 1:06 left, Gernander pulled Johnson form the net and five seconds later it almost worked as Kolarik had a great chance in front but was denied by Jones.

11 seconds later Zeiler, on the far right side, buried a shot into the empty net for the final tally that also saw the Whale outshot 34-28 for the game.

“They’re obviously a good team, and you can’t give them opportunities,” Gernander said. “They’re going to earn them on their own, so you can’t give them extra cracks at it, and that was the case a couple of times (Friday night).”

Bruce Berlet’s unabridged story on Howlings.  The Union Leader doesn’t have their normal story on the game, but the Manchester Monarchs do.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

VIDEO:

SOUNDS OF THE GAME:

Ken Gernander: 

Michael Del Zotto: 

Brodie Dupont: 

NOTES:

* At 7:02 of the first period, Todd White, who was in his second game back after missing four games with a shoulder injury may have received a concussion when he and Dupont collided along the left wing boards in the offensive zone and the veteran hit his head on the ice. White did not return in the game. Gernander stated after the game that White’s condition was unknown and that he would be evaluated.

Hall-of-Famer and ex-Bruin and NY Rangers great Brad Park will be at the XL Center Saturday night to sign autographs before the game.

* Grachev has 7g in his last 4 games.

* Weise has 3g in his last 2 games.

* Del Zotto has 7a in 9 games with the Whale and has yet to score a goal.

* The Whale are currently on a 4-7-0-0 streak in their last 11

* Manchester has owned Connecticut this season posting a 6-1-0-0 record over the Whale.

* An opposing player has NOT had a hat trick in the XL Center since Dec. 9, 2006 when Rod Pelley of the then Lowell Devils had two against Al Montoya and an empty netter in a Lowell 6-4 win.

* Grad “Shooter” Smyth has the Whale/Wolf Pack record with 5 hat-tricks. Surprisingly John Tripp is second with 4 and Ryan Callahan, Nigel Dawes and Alex Giroux each hat a hat trick of hat tricks.

LINES:

Kolarik – Newbury – Weise
Grachev – Kennedy – Jeremy Williams
Dupont  – White – Jason Williams
Soryal – Tessier – DiDiomete

Valentenko – Kundratek
Redden – Nightingale
Del Zotto – Bickel

Johnson
Pelletier

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Ryan Garlock – Flu, Day-to-Day
Cam Talbot – High Ankle Sprain, Day-to-Day
Chris McKelvie – Foot Surgery, Undetermined
Oren Eizenman – Healthy Scratch
Jyri Niemi – Healthy Scratch

THREE STARS:

1. MCH – B. Holloway
2. MCH – V. Voynov
3. CT – E. Grachev

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Jamie Koharski (84)

Linesmen:
Luke Galvin (2)
Brent Colby (7)

NEXT GAME:

Portland, who dropped out of first place with a 4-2 loss at Providence Friday night, will be a tough test for the Whale as they both play their last contest before the AHL All-Star break Saturday night. . Bob Crawford has the pregame a half an hour before the puck drops at 7pm.

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.

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SCORE-SHEET:

Manchester Monarchs 4 at Connecticut Whale 2 – Status: Final
Friday, January 28, 2011 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Manchester 0 3 1 – 4
Connecticut 1 1 0 – 2

1st Period-1, Connecticut, Grachev 13 (Kennedy), 11:23. Penalties-Kolomatis Mch (hooking), 3:03; Tessier Ct (hooking), 7:09; Johnson Mch (interference), 14:10; Clune Mch (unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:57.

2nd Period-2, Manchester, Voynov 10 (Meckler, Clune), 5:14. 3, Manchester, Kozun 11 (Elkins, Teubert), 6:16. 4, Manchester, Holloway 15 (King), 10:20. 5, Connecticut, Weise 10 (Dupont, Bickel), 13:41. Penalties-Weise Ct (tripping), 3:02; Clune Mch (fighting), 8:53; DiDiomete Ct (fighting), 8:53.

3rd Period-6, Manchester, Zeiler 2 (Meckler, Clune), 19:10 (EN). Penalties-Newbury Ct (boarding), 3:38; Dupont Ct (interference), 8:27; Cliche Mch (delay of game), 14:02.

Shots on Goal-Manchester 10-12-12-34. Connecticut 12-5-11-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 0 / 4; Connecticut 0 / 4.
Goalies-Manchester, Jones 17-5-0 (28 shots-26 saves). Connecticut, Johnson 14-16-3 (33 shots-30 saves).
A-5,802
Referees-Jamie Koharski (84).
Linesmen-Luke Galvin (2), Brent Colby (7).