VERSUS 
It was such great spectacle the first time so why not do it again?
The Connecticut Whale played the third period of Saturday’s back-end of the home-and-home series with the Springfield Falcons, taking a page out of the Charlie Sheen quote book, with “Tiger’s Blood” and Adonis DNA running in their veins, as they came from behind for the second straight time against their 1-91 rivals posting a 2-1 overtime win in front of 6,486 at the MassMutual Center Saturday night.
Rookie defenseman Blake Parlett, playing in his seventh game since being recalled from the Greenville Road Warriors on Feb. 17th, scored his first AHL goal with just 27.5 seconds left in overtime to keep the Whale tied with the Worcester Sharks, 2-0 winners at home over the Charlotte Checkers, for third place in the Atlantic Division.
“Anytime four-on-four as soon as there’s a quick transition, I try and join the rush,” Parlett said with a huge smile on his face. “So happened that Brodie (Dupont) had it; I was the second guy on the rush, drove the net and (Kris) Newbury had a nice shot and put it on net and I was able to get a stick on it and it went down and five-hole through his legs.
“Two big comebacks both games (including Wednesday’s 3-2 win at the XL Center). We had a real good third period. We dominated them and again tonight in the third. Tonight we get two big points against these guys.”
Newbury knew time was running out if the Whale were going to pull the game out in overtime. “I didn’t know exactly how much time was left. I just thought, ‘if I put it on net, there might be a rebound or whatnot’ but it was a great play by Parlett tipping it in. A good way to get your first goal.”
“It was a nice play all the way around,” Coach Ken Gernander said. “(Parlett) is somebody, like we’ve talked about all season long, when you’re missing players or you’re short a body it’s opportunities for others, you know you’ve gotta make the most of them.”
Despite controlling play throughout the entire contest, things were beginning to look bleak for the visitors as they trailed with under seven minutes to go in regulation. That was until a freak play led to a timely goal from the game’s first star, Newbury.
“Their d-man shot it and (it hit Dale Weise in the ear) and just went up in the air,” Newbury said describing what would prove to be his tenth of the season. “So I figured, ‘Just catch it and shoot it as quickly as I can.’ The puck rolled up on my stick and it fooled the goalie (ex-Wolf Pack netminder David LeNeveu) a bit and wound up going in.”
Weise left the ice surface in considerable pain but returned a few minutes later.
The Whale dominated throughout just as they had in Wednesday night. The first period the Falcons did not get their first recorded shot on goal until the 15:35 mark and finished the period with two but got themselves in trouble when Pavel Valentenko made an unforced error and through the puck into the stands with just 15.4 left in the period.
49 seconds into the second period, Kyle Wilson made a highlight reel behind the back pass from low to the right side of the cage that went through a couple of Whale defender’s sticks, through the crease and found a wide open Brent Regner. The Falcon defenseman had come down from his left point position and fired the puck past Dov Grumet-Morris (19 saves, 6-3-1), who had no chance at all on the play.
It wasn’t like the Whale were without chances on LeNeveu (25 saves, 16-15-2) throughout the contest.
In the first period Derek Couture, back on the Whale after being recalled from the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL, had two great chances. The first was off a rebound at 10:47 and then at 11:45 Couture was denied a goal off a blast from the slot that LeNeveu rejected.
In the second period, Evgeny Grachev, who now has one goal in his last 14 games, had a breakaway opportunity with just 2:49 remaining but was stuffed after taking a slash from defenseman Nick Holden.
In the third, Francis Lemieux set up Justin Soryal with a nice pass into the crease but the puck hit the heel of the Whale enforcer’s stick and was swallowed up by LeNeveu.
Grumet-Morris made a couple of great saves himself.
Grumet-Morris’ best of the game came at 2:02 of overtime when he robbed Maksim Mayorov of what should have been the game winner as the Falcon left winger put a shot on a wide open side of the net that instead met the far outstretched left leg of the Whale netminder.
“I thought the guys did a really good job in staying with things and really grinding it out.” Gernander said
Newbury, back with the “A” on his jersey summed it up so well, “We just have a find a way to score more goals here and get up going into the third instead of trailing.”
But then again, what would be the fun in that for a team that seems to be “Winning!!!” Sorry Charlie.
Bruce Berlet is has his unedited posting here at Howlings. As for Springfield, the great Frank Sypek has the story at MassLive.com. Thanks to Masslive.com for the picture as well.
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET
STANDINGS:
(Standings via theahl.com)
VIDEO:
Ken Gernander Post Game:
“Irish” Mickey Ward Drops a Ceremonial puck:
SOUNDS OF THE GAME:
Ken Gernander:
Kris Newbury:
Dov Grumet-Morris:
Blake Partlett:
Dale Weise:
NOTES:
* It was “Pink In The Rink” night for the Falcons who sported pink Jersey’s that were auctioned off to raise money for Breast Cancer awareness and research. Before the game The Mary Kay Foundation donated $40,000 to the cause.
* 5-19-0-2 is the Whale’s record now when trailing after two periods. Conversely, Springfield is 21-7-1-1 when leading after two.
* When outshooting their opponents the Whale are 18-11-2-3
* Close games are still what’s making the Whale, as Charlie Sheen might say, “High Priests, Vatican Assassin Warlocks” They are now 16-10-2-6. Okay, the quote really doesn’t reflect the record, but then neither does Charlie Sheen.
LINES:
Dupont – Newbury – Weise
Grachev – Mitchell – Tessier
Soryal – Lemieux – Couture
DiDiomete- Eizenman
Redden – Nightingale
Valentenko – Parlett
Baldwin – Bickel
Grumet-Morris
Talbot
(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)
SCRATCHES:
Chad Kolarik – Hamstring, 1-2 Weeks
Tomas Kundratek – Virus, Day-to-Day
Jyri Niemi – Separated Shoulder – Four – Six Weeks
Chris McKelvie – Foot Surgery, Season
Todd White – Concussion – Undetermined
Ryan Garlock – Leg injury – Day-to-Day
Jeremy Williams – Neck Injury – Day-to-Day
THREE STARS:
1. CT – K. Newbury
2. SPR – D. LeNeveu
3. SPR – B. Regner
ON ICE OFFICIALS:
Referee:
Geno Binda (22)
Linesmen:
David Spannaus (8)
Kevin Redding (16)
NEXT GAME:
The final stretch of the ten in 12 on the road as the Whale travel to Worcester for a HUGE battle with the Sharks. The puck drops at 3pm with Bob Crawford will have Chad Kolarik helping out with the play-by-play with the pregame a half an hour before game time.
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 2 (OT) at Springfield Falcons 1 – Status: Final OT
Saturday, March 5, 2011 – MassMutual Center
Connecticut 0 0 1 1 – 2
Springfield 0 1 0 0 – 1
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Guite Spr (boarding), 4:27; Valentenko Ct (delay of game), 19:44.
2nd Period-1, Springfield, Regner 6 (Smith, Wilson), 0:49 (PP). Penalties-Harvey Spr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:14; Nightingale Ct (roughing), 7:34; Smith Spr (cross-checking), 8:13; Weise Ct (hooking), 10:32; Weise Ct (fighting), 15:14; Regner Spr (fighting), 15:14; Holden Spr (slashing), 17:11.
3rd Period-2, Connecticut, Newbury 10 13:29. Penalties-Weise Ct (fighting), 19:48; Sigalet Spr (fighting), 19:48.
OT Period-3, Connecticut, Parlett 1 (Newbury, Dupont), 4:32. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Connecticut 7-5-12-3-27. Springfield 2-7-8-3-20.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 4; Springfield 1 / 3.
Goalies-Connecticut, Grumet-Morris 6-3-1 (20 shots-19 saves). Springfield, LeNeveu 16-15-2 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-6,486
Referees-Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-David Spannaus (8), Kevin Redding (16).
Leave a Reply