WHALE OF A COMEBACK 

VERSUS   

Kris Newbury scored on a power play early in the third period and the Connecticut Whale held on for an important 4-3 road win against the second place Portland Pirates in front of 5,709 at the Cumberland County Civic Center Saturday night.

Dov Grumet-Morris (22 saves, 1-1-0) made his second start of the season and first since being resigned to a Professional Try-Out (PTO) contract earlier in the week from the Whale’s ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Road Warriors. Grumet-Morris was strong between the pipes for the visitors despite allowing three past him. None of them were soft. Grumet-Morris also had stints with the Grand Rapids Griffins and ironically enough, the Pirates, earlier this season but did not play in a game for either squad.

Chad Kolarik had an interesting evening. Kolarik scored two of the Whale’s four goals but also missed on three breakaway opportunities.

Evgeny Grachev, Brodie Dupont and Tim Kennedy all had two assists each on the night.

The game’s first tally came after Dennis McCauley went to the penalty box after he was whistled by referee Francis Charron for hooking Wade Redden at 8:18 of the first period. On the ensuing power play, Newbury’s pass at the point hit Jeremy Williams in the skates and deflected just out of the zone. The AHL’s leading goal scorer, Mark Mancari picked up the puck and was off to the races. Mancari put a deke on Grumet-Morris and beat the Whale netminder low to the glove side for his 28th of the season.

The Whale came close when Kolarik rushed the puck up the left wing side of the ice on a semi-breakaway. Kolarik then let fly his patented cross body shot targeted for the far right corner. Jhonas Enroth (25 saves, 16-14-1) flashed the glove at it but missed and the puck hit off the crossbar just behind him with just 3:45 to go in the first.

The Whale got themselves right back into the game just one second after a penalty to Tim Conboy for interfering with Jeremy Williams at 3:21 had expired. Tomas Kundratek took a Jason Williams pass at the right point and rifled the puck on net. After making the pass from the right sideboards, Jason Williams drifted into the slot and Brodie Dupont crashed the net in front of Enroth. As the puck went past him, Williams got his stick on it and redirected it past Enroth and into the net. Jason Williams has 4g and 4a for 8 points in 15 games as he looks to rebuild his NHL career.

But Portland was aggressive and came right back1:29 later.

McCauley took a cross ice pass from Justin Bowers on the left wing side and drove wide of the net with Jared Nightingale attached to his hip. As the two drove to the right of Grumet-Morris, McCauley centered the puck back to the crease where Bowers was all alone after Oren Eizenman chased McCauley and then just pulled off in no-man’s land leaving Bowers unattended. The Pirate center then beat Grumet-Morris just over the pad and under the blocker for his third of the season.

The Whale responded with the third goal of the period scored by the two teams in 2:25.

Kennedy threw the puck cross ice over to Kolarik from the right side. Kolarik put the puck on net and it hit Enroth and bounced in front to Grachev on Enroth’s right. Grachev’s shot pulled Enroth over far to the right side. The puck rebounded into the slot where Kolarik jumped on it and roofed it over a sliding Mark Parrish and into the near empty net for the equalizer.

Kolarik had two chances to major chances to get the hat trick but two breakaway opportunities went for  naught as he missed the net on the first one streaking up the slot and then saw Enroth snap the leather and rob him with the glove on yet another attempt to go high.

The Whale have a chance to make a four point pick up on the Pirates and make the gap only six when the two teams lock up at the XL Center Sunday afternoon at 3pm.

Bruce Berlet did not make the trip to Maine so Bob Crawford did the double duty and has the story at CTWhale. com.  The story from Paul Betit can be found at MaineToday.com.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

STANDINGS:

(via theahl.com)

NOTES:

* From the “Wow-Did-He-Just-Say-That” department comes this post game comment from ex-Whaler and current head coach of Portland, Kevin Dineen who summed up the game to reporters this way…

“”We play a certain style of hockey, and they have a high payroll-type team and they want a skill game.”

“High payroll team” is a true statement because the Rangers have buried the contracts of Wade Redden ($6.5m) and Todd White ($2.35m…who didn’t play because he has a concussion by the way) but who could he possibly be talking about that has such a high contract other than those two? Redden, for the record, had no points and was minus-2 on the game. Dineen, who’s a terrific person, not only comes off as a sore-loser with that statement but it’s also a cheap shot and frankly just makes no sense. Portland is affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres meanwhile the Whale are a member of the NY Rangers organization. Which team do you think can afford to pay the salaries at any level? If he doesn’t like the

* Talk about a trade working out nicely for both teams, since being traded from the then Hartford Wolf Pack to the Springfield Falcons, one time captain Dane Byers has 7g and 13a for 20 points and 2 game winners in 37 games. That adds up to .54 points per game. Meanwhile, the player he was traded for, Chad Kolarik, has 15g and 11a for 26pts and 2 game winners in 30 games and .86 points per game. Byers is plus-2 for a weak Springfield team while Kolarik is plus-4 on a decent Whale squad. They’re two different kinds of player, but it’s worked out nicely for both teams the way ANY good trade should.

* The Whale are 12-8-0-4 on the road and 12-12-2-1 at home.

* Whale goals are dead even, GF 140, GA 140

* If the game is tied entering the third period, the Whale are now 8-3-2-1, 14-1-0-2 when leading after two and 2-16-0-2 when entering the period trailing.

* 11-8-2-5 in one-goal games, 14-9-2-3 when outshooting their opponent versus 9-11-0-2 when being outshot.

* Just one of those stupid stats is the plus/minus. Think about this. Tim Conboy was given a minus on the Jason Williams goal when he was on the ice for all of ONE SECOND after exiting the penalty box. How is that fair and what does it really mean anyway?

LINES:

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

Redden – Nightingale
Valentenko – Kundratek
Niemi – Bickel

Grumet-Morris
Johnson

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Dale Weise – Upper Body, Day-to-Day
Todd White – Concussion, Indefinite
Chris McKelvie – Foot Surgery, Indefinite

THREE STARS:

1. CT – C. Kolarik
2. CT – E. Grachev
3. CT – T. Kennedy

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Francis Charron (46)

Linesmen:
Landon Bathe (80)
Joe Ross (92)

NEXT GAME:

The Whale look to complete a Home-and-Home with a second win over the Portland Pirates Sunday afternoon at the XL Center. Game-time is at 3. Bob Crawford has the pregame 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.

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SCORE-SHEET:

Connecticut Whale 4 at Portland Pirates 3 – Status: Final
Saturday, February 5, 2011 – Cumberland County Civic Center

Connecticut 0 3 1 – 4
Portland 1 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Portland, Mancari 28   9:12 (SH). Penalties-McCauley Por (hooking), 7:18; Redden Ct (tripping), 14:37.

2nd Period-2, Connecticut, Williams 4 (Dupont, Kundratek), 5:22. 3, Portland, Bowers 3 (McCauley, Ellis), 6:51. 4, Connecticut, Kolarik 18 (Grachev, Kennedy), 7:47. 5, Portland, McCauley 9 (Crawford, Gongalsky), 12:37. 6, Connecticut, Kolarik 19 (Grachev, Kennedy), 18:40. Penalties-Conboy Por (interference), 3:21; Redden Ct (interference), 10:03; O’Hanley Por (tripping), 13:33.

3rd Period-7, Connecticut, Newbury 7 (Dupont, Williams), 2:40 (PP). Penalties-Gragnani Por (slashing), 1:51; Williams Ct (interference), 14:22.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 8-14-7-29. Portland 5-12-8-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 1 / 4; Portland 0 / 3.
Goalies-Connecticut, Grumet-Morris 1-1-0 (25 shots-22 saves). Portland, Enroth 16-14-1 (29 shots-25 saves).
A-5,709
Referees-Francis Charron (46).
Linesmen-Landon Bathe (80), Joe Ross (92).