SLOPPY SECONDS…GAMES THAT IS! 

VERSUS

They don’t award style points in hockey and even if they did, the Connecticut Whale wouldn’t have been awarded any in their 3-2 overtime win against the Norfolk Admirals at The Scope Saturday night.

No, this one was not pretty…not by a longshot…but the game winner certainly was.

In overtime, Michael Del Zotto made the kind of rush up the ice that the parent NY Rangers are looking for out of their 20-year old defenseman. Del Zotto then made, simply stated, a perfect pass into the crease. The puck was right on the tape of the net crashing Jeremy Williams. The Whale right-winger initially was stopped by a terrific save from Admirals starter Dustin Tokarski (23 saves, 6-11-1). The Regina, Saskatchewan native though didn’t quit on it, despite being knocked down from behind by a Norfolk defender, he kept at it until he eventually popped the puck over the fallen goaltender and into the back of the net. The game winner came with just 37.2 seconds remaining  before the skills competition would have begun.

Playing in the extra stanza is nothing new for the Rangers top developmental team. This season they’ve seen 14 of their 41 games go beyond regulation, more than any other team in the American League. The win was the team’s fifth in the extra frame itself and that also leads the AHL. The Whale have also won two in the shootout. In games that go to extended time and beyond, the Whale are 7-2-5.

Cam Talbot (38 saves,  7-2-2) was nothing short of sensational as the affable Caledonia, Ontario native picked up his team and carried them on his back to victory. He only gave up two goals and on both he had no chance at all on almost identical plays.

The first Admiral tally by Tim Marks, came at 13:24 of the second frame as the Admiral on a redirect as the left-wing redirected a high shot from the middle of the blueline off the stick of Marc-Antoine Pouliot and redirected it low that tied the game at one. The second came with just 1:39 left in regulation to send it to overtime and also came off a redirection. Stefano Giliati got his stick on a Radko Gudas shot off an almost identical play as the one that got the home team their first goal.  Apart from those two that he had no chance on, everything that Norfolk threw at him was handled well by the rookie netminder.

The first period was slow and cumbersome for the Whale. They just couldn’t connect on passes and were hemmed into their own end for the majority of it. The shots were 14-6 for the Admirals and it wasn’t that close.

The Whale had two strong scoring chances in the opening period. The first came off a 2-on-1 odd man rush with Jeremy Williams and Brodie Dupont. Tokarski made a nice save after Dupont partially fanned on his scoring chance from the right wing circle at 15:23. The second stop came in the last minute when Tokarski denied a Jeremy Williams shot.

Across the ice, Talbot had his hands full and made stellar stops on Matt Fornataro using the glove to stop a 2-on-1 odd man rush. Talbot also made a terrific stop right after Tokarski made his on Williams in the last minute rising to the challenge and stoning a Blair Jones  scoring chance.

In the second period, Head Coach Ken Gernander’s troops came up fired up and capitalized early.

1:31 into the period on yet another odd-man rush up ice, with Mike Vernace back defending on Jeremy Williams and Dupont again, this time, Dupont struck pay-dirt scoring his seventh of the season. Dupont picked off a pass in the Whale zone and rushed it up ice with Williams at his opposite side.  Williams faked pass and then unloaded from the left wing circle rifling one right through Tokarski’s five-hole.

5’10 176-pound Tim Kennedy got into a dustup behind the Admiral net at 17:35. His opponent on the incident reminded all that sometimes David and Goliath doesn’t work out that great for David. Kennedy, in either an act of incredibly bravery or stupidity, went after the 6’8 246-pound giant, Vladimir Mihalik. The NHL-veteran defenseman threw Kennedy to the ice like he was a flea. 6’3 205-pound Jared Nightingale was not going to let that go unanswered and immediately stepped in to defend his teammate.

Mihalik knocked down Nightingale pretty quickly, but credit the Whale defenseman for his conviction and courage, because the defenseman got right back up and went right back at the much taller and stronger veteran. This time, despite being physically manhandled, Nightingale won the fight with some very strong punches that landed and bloodied the mouth of the Presov, Slovakia native sending him to the dressing room to deal with it.

15 seconds later the Whale answered in the strongest possible manner, putting one in the back of the net…and they did it in outstanding fashion.

Todd White shot the puck from the left side of the net. The puck was blocked in front and fell into the crease. Before Tokarski could cover it, Kelsey Tessier retrieved the puck and flipped it back to White for a second stab at it. White unloaded a hard shot from the low, left side of the slot and Tessier got his stick on it and redirected it into the net for his seventh of the year.

The third frame was all about Talbot. With the Admirals playing with determination and the Whale unable to get any sort of meaningful control of the puck, it came down to stop-after-stop for the Whale netminder to try and preserve the win. The Whale were outshot in the period 13-4.

The best chance for the Admirals came midway through the period when Pouliot intercepted a cross ice pass in the defensive zone and charged in untouched only to run into the brick wall over the net that Talbot was and denied the gift opportunity left by the Whale defense for the Admiral center.

Talbot also stuffed another Pouliot chance late in the frame with a tremendous stop on Pouliot’s bid for his 16th of the season.

The win moved the Whale (20-14-2-5, 47 pts.) within three points of the first-place Manchester Monarchs and on par with the Portland Pirates who knocked off Manchester 4-3. The Whale and Pirates remain in a tie for second place in the Atlantic Division but hold four games in hand on Connecticut.

Bob Crawford pulls double duty with calling the game and then writing up the recap. Find Crawford’s summary at CTWhale.com. Jim Hodges reports on Norfolk story at The Virginian-Pilot.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

NOTES:

* For those who want to see Del Zotto in his Whale Uniform…see the above courtesy of CTWhale.com

* Dupont now has goals in two–straight for the first time this season. He has three goals and three assists in his last six games.

* Ex-Wolf Pack enforcer Mitch Fritz was scratched for a second game and stood behind the Admirals bench.

* Ex-Boston Bruins greats Rick Middleton and Reggie Lemelin will be making a special appearance at Saturday’s game, which is a 7:00 faceoff, meeting and greeting fans and signing autographs in the XL Center atrium from 6:00-7:00 PM to promote the February 19 Harvest-Properties.com “Whale Bowl” at Rentschler Field.

LINES:

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

Del Zotto – Bickel
Niemi – Nightingale
Valentenko – Kundratek

Talbot
Johnson

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Wade Redden – Lower Body, Day-to-Day
Oren Eizenman – Healthy Scratch

THREE STARS:

1. CT – J. Williams
2. NOR – S. Giliati
3. CT – K. Tessier

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Jeff Smith (49)

Linesmen:
Mark Hamlett (81)
Scott Pomento (25)

NEXT GAME:

The Whale will head home for a week of practice and then head up north to Portland for a battle with the Pirates. Bob Crawford and the pregame hit the air at a half an hour before the puck drops.

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 3 (OT) at Norfolk Admirals 2 – Status: Final OT
Saturday, January 8, 2011 – Norfolk Scope

Connecticut 0 2 0 1 – 3
Norfolk 0 1 1 0 – 2

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Jackson Nor (high-sticking), 0:27; Del Zotto Ct (slashing), 3:51.

2nd Period-1, Connecticut, Dupont 7   1:31. 2, Norfolk, Marks 2 (Pouliot, Labrie), 13:24. 3, Connecticut, Tessier 7 (White), 17:50. Penalties-Bickel Ct (fighting), 10:02; Valentenko Ct (hooking), 10:02; Angelidis Nor (fighting), 10:02; DiDiomete Ct (fighting), 12:44; Berry Nor (fighting), 12:44; Kennedy Ct (slashing), 17:35; Nightingale Ct (fighting), 17:35; Mihalik Nor (slashing, fighting), 17:35; Del Zotto Ct (hooking), 18:25.

3rd Period-4, Norfolk, Giliati 5 (Gudas, Berry), 18:21. Penalties-Williams Ct (delay of game), 11:23.

OT Period-5, Connecticut, Williams 20 (Del Zotto, Williams), 4:22. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 6-12-4-4-26. Norfolk 14-11-13-2-40.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 1; Norfolk 0 / 4.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 7-2-2 (40 shots-38 saves). Norfolk, Tokarski 6-11-1 (26 shots-23 saves).
A-4,888
Referees-Jeff Smith (49).
Linesmen-Mark Hamlett (81), Scott Pomento (25).