MAKE THAT FIVE STRAIGHT

      VERSUS      

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Special to Howlings

HARTFORD, CT - The Connecticut Whale scored two goals in sixteen seconds late in the third period to pull out a dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Manchester Monarchs in front of a crowd of 5,143 at the XL Center Sunday afternoon completing a sweep of the three-in-three weekend.

“It wasn’t the energy we had earlier in the weekend, but we said between the second and third that if we buck-up we can get the two points and make this a special weekend for ourselves, “ Whale head coach Ken Gernander said.

The win stretched their current winning streak to a season high five games and allowed the Rangers’ AHL affiliate to jump into sixth overall in the Eastern conference a spot ahead of the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins with 56 to 55 points on a record of 25-21-4-2.

The Monarchs handcuffed the Whale for most of the game and were finally able to free themselves about four shifts before the tying goal as the team finally found a way to get wide and get quality scoring chances on Monarchs’ goalie, Martin Jones.

At 17;33, just sixteen seconds after knotting the score, left winger Brandon Mashinter was about ten feet out from the Monarchs net when he took a Brandon Segal pass from behind the net and rifled his seventh of the season (fourth as a Whale) before throwing himself against the glass as the already exuberant crowd erupted in pandemonium.

“Segal made a nice pass and I just put it under the bar,” Mashinter said. Segal passed by and jokingly said, “Make sure you tell them it was a good pass.”

Mashinter has eleven points in fourteen games and two game winning goals since being acquired from Worcester in the trade that sent Tommy Grant back the other way on January 16th.

“When you persevere good things happen for you,” Mashinter said. “We caught a good break on the first one, then the puck squirted out to Segal and he made a nice pass on that one as well as the one to (Steve) Eminger. Communication is key and if you have bad communication bad things can happen. We’re out there talking to one another and things are working out well.”

The Whale tied the score at two off a perfectly executed two-on-one odd man rush. Segal was on the right wing and showed good patience waiting and making  a perfect  feed to Eminger,  playing  in his  second game with the Whale since being sent down on a conditioning assignment  from the Whale’s parent club, the New York Rangers.

“It’s funny coming down in our end and (Eminger) went for the puck and he yelled at me and I had the lane and got the puck. I knew he was with me and when you have a player like him you know he’s gonna bury it. We said we got this one; let’s go get the next one,” remarked Segal.

Eminger returned the favor by giving all the credit to Segal. “I yelled at him in our zone there was a little mix up at the bench for the line change. Segal got the puck and made a great play.  He sold the whole play.”

Segal’s twelve points and his overall play over the past  few games clearly stands out as one of the primary reasons for the resurgence of the Whale. They’ve moved from a team near the bottom of the conference at  thirteenth just three weeks ago, up to sixth where they sit now.

“If you look at and go through Segal’s numbers you won’t find too many muffins. No sixth goal in a 6-1 game, and every time we need a big time goal or play he seemed to be in the mix. He on the score sheet or making an impact on a scoring play. This is a by-product of the success he has had at other levels and with other teams. He has experience and finds ways to win games,” said Gernander.

It helped the Whale that the Monarchs nailed four posts on the night. It also helped that rookie goalie Jason Missiaen made a huge stop with 11:33 left in regulation on a three-on-one Monarchs’ rush. Colton Yellow Horn on the right wing, got a piece of the puck before it hit the side of the net.

The Monarchs’ Tyler Toffolli had a strong night and helped the Monarchs break a one-one tie late in the second period.

Toffoli spun around in the offensive zone and the right-handed shooter snapped a hard, low wrist shot with Tanner Pearson and Whale defenseman Mike Vernace screening Missiaen. The puck beat the Whale netminder cleanly just inside the left post for his team leading 24^th goal at 19:07.

In a game with a significant amount of stagnant action, the Whale were able to tie the game as rookie Christian Thomas’s 25 foot wrist shot found the back of the cage over the glove side of Monarchs’ goaltender Martin Jones. The goal was Thomas’ thirteenth of the season and gives the son of one-time New York Islander Steve Thomas, ten points in his last eleven games dating back to his being scratched against Providence back on January 20^th.

The goal was the result of a good head-man pass from defenseman Blake Parlett to Micheal Haley who in turn made a perfect cross ice pass to Thomas as they entered the offensive zone.

Eminger wasn’t able to win a puck in the corner from Toffoli  after Andy Andreoff  put it deep into the right wing corner. Toffoli found a wide-open Lindsay Vey at 6:24 for the Monarchs’ opening goal in the first period.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORER’S SHEET

NOTES:

The injury list for the Whale remains the same Benn Ferrerio (upper body), Jason Wilson (upper body), Ryan Bourque (upper body) and Marek Hrivik (concussion) have not skated at all. Shayne Wiebe is done for the season and D Jyri Niemi was the only healthy scratch…

This hit on Springfield Falcons forward Wade MacLeod led to his having a seizure and the game being postponed. According to the announcer this was the THIRD boarding call of the game against the Adirondack Phantoms, who are naturally associate with the Philadelphia Flyers. I think the coaching staff as well as the team and the players ALL deserve to be fined.

Here is an official release on the incident from the Falcons;

Springfield, Mass. – Springfield Falcons forward Wade MacLeod was stable and alert after suffering a seizure following a hit into the glass during the second period of Sunday afternoon’s game against the Adirondack Phantoms.

MacLeod was brought by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Players and coaching staffs on each team unanimously agreed to postpone the game.

Information on MacLeod’s status and a rescheduled game date will be announced when available on FalconsAHL.com.

The entire staff of Howlings wishes Wade MacLeod a safe and speedy recovery.

RECAP:

STANDINGS:

LINES:

23 Brandon Mashinter - 11 Kris Newbury - 44 Nick Palmieri
18 Michael Haley –  90 Kelsey Tessier - 92 Christian Thomas
21 Andrew Yogan - 7 Kyle Jean– 28 Andrew Carroll
26 Brandon Segal - 27 Michael Pelech

3 Sam Klassen – 5 Blake Parlett
25 Sean Collins - 2 Dylan McIlrath
4- Steve Eminger – 48 Mike Vernace
39 Logan Pyett

33 Cameron Talbot
31 Jason Missiaen

Assistant Captains in BOLD

SCRATCHES:

24 Shayne Wiebe – Knee – Season
15 Marek Hrivik - Upper Body / Concussion – Indefinite
9 Ryan Bourque - Upper Body – Two to Three Weeks
19 Benn Ferriero – Undisclosed Injury – Indefinite
14 Jason Wilson – Healthy Scratch
8 Jyri Niemi – Healthy Scratch
20 Chris Kreider – Recalled by NY Rangers

THREE STARS:

1. CT – B. Segal
2. CT – B. Mashinter
3. CT – S. Eminger

REFEREE:

Jean-Philippe Sylvain (16)

LINESMEN:

Jim Briggs (83)
Derek Wahl (46)

NEXT GAME:

St. John’s visits Connecticut for their second and final time of the season on Wednesday. You can catch Bob Crawford and all of the action on WCCC-FM or watch it on AHL Live. You can also follow us for all of the play-by-play on Twitter at @HowlingsToday.

BOX SCORE:

Manchester Monarchs 2 at Connecticut Whale 3 – Status: Final
Sunday, February 17, 2013 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

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

1st Period-1, Manchester, Vey 13 (Toffoli, Andreoff), 6:24 (PP). Penalties-Thomas Ct (hooking), 4:58; Huxley Mch (hooking), 6:44; Segal Ct (tripping), 17:09.

2nd Period-2, Connecticut, Thomas 13 (Haley, Parlett), 7:34. 3, Manchester, Toffoli 24 (Deslauriers, LoVerde), 19:06. Penalties-Stewart Mch (boarding, fighting), 4:05; McIlrath Ct (fighting), 4:05; Johnson Mch (interference), 12:31.

3rd Period-4, Connecticut, Eminger 1 (Segal, Collins), 17:17. 5, Connecticut, Mashinter 7 (Segal), 17:33. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Manchester 8-12-9-29. Connecticut 12-7-10-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 1 / 2; Connecticut 0 / 3.
Goalies-Manchester, Jones 12-18-3 (29 shots-26 saves). Connecticut, Missiaen 6-4-1 (29 shots-27 saves).
A-5,143
Referees-Jean-Philippe Sylvain (16).
Linesmen-Jim Briggs (83), Derek Wahl (46).