NEW-BURIES ONE 

VERSUS

(Due to internet failure and computer problems, we were unable to write a report on this game. Bruce Berlet has the story.)

By Bruce Berlet

MANCHESTER, N.H. – After three one-goal losses at the Verizon Wireless Center this season, the last in a shootout after leading 4-0, the Connecticut Whale sought a major change of fortune Friday night against the Atlantic Division-leading Manchester Monarchs.

The Whale finally got on the positive side thanks to a chip-shot goal by leading scorer Kris Newbury early in the third period and Dov Grumet-Morris’ 25 saves that produced a 1-0 victory before 7,490.

It was Grumet-Morris’ first shutout in 14 games with the Whale (34-26-2-6), who moved into solo third place in the battle for the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. They’re two points ahead of the Worcester Sharks (31-25-4-8), who lost 4-1 at Providence, which visits the Whale on Saturday night.

It was the first time the Monarchs were shut out at home since Portland’s Jhonas Enroth notched a 2-0 victory on Dec. 2, 2009. The Whale also moved one point ahead of the Binghamton Senators (34-27-3-4), fifth in the East Division and on a 2-7-0-1 slide since a season-high, eight-game winning streak after losing 3-2 to Portland. The victory moved the Pirates (41-18-5-2) within one point of the Monarchs (41-22-2-6), who had won three in a row and were on a 7-3-0-1 run but have played five more games than Portland.

Despite the outside help, the Whale was mainly satisfied with another solid defensive effort, backstopped by Grumet-Morris, who is 8-3-1 with a1.87 goals-against average and .926 save percentage since joining the Whale on two professional tryout contracts before signing an AHL deal on March 2. They persevered after dominating the second period with a 16-8 shot advantage but not being able to beat Jeff Zatkoff (32 saves), who had been shelled in two previous starts against the Whale but played against them again after going 4-0-1-0 in his previous five starts.

“We knew we were doing a good job, but Zatkoff was having a great game,” Grumet-Morris said of the Whale’s second-period domination. “They weathered our storm in the second period, but we continued to do the right things. The game was close because both teams were playing a good game, a playoff game, and we were able to get the one goal.

“Manchester is a very good team, so we knew it was going to be a close game regardless of what the score was going to be. I’ve said since I’ve been here that this team does a very good job of limiting the number of shots against, and the defensive corps does a very good job of keeping the shots to the outside. And our forwards did an excellent job of back-checking and having a third man high, so that results in less shots than perhaps that team is used to. But we have a lot of respect for them, and it was a close game that could have done either way.”

Newbury made sure the Whale improved on a 1-5-0-1 record against the Monarchs, their only previous win being 5-1 at the XL Center on Dec. 11. He extended his point streak to seven games (six goals, five assists) since returning from his fourth stint with the parent New York Rangers when he converted a give-and-go with Brodie Dupont at 2:47 of the third period.

“We’ve been preaching getting pucks to the net, middle drives and take a whack at it,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “That’s just what happened there.”

Newbury said he was trying to get his shot off as quickly as possible, and his chop shot deflected off the outside of Zatkoff’s arm and into the net for his 15^th goal.

“When I had the puck originally, I was just trying to go to the middle and kind of push their defenseman together and just threw it outside,” said Newbury, the Whale’s leading scorer with 53 points despite missing 10 games while on Broadway. “I wasn’t sure if Brodie was going to shoot or pass back, but either way, I was going to the net. He ended up passing it back and I got kind of a lucky goal.

“The puck was kind of bouncing, so I just kind of chipped it. I’m not sure where it went, but I’ll take it. … We all played a good game. They have a lot of speed up front, so any time you can slow them up through the neutral zone and play more time in their end than ours, you have a better chance to win. Both goalies were playing good, so the more shots on net the better. I was looking for a dirty rebound and we were fortunate to come out with a win, but we all played well so it was good start to the weekend.”

Dupont, who has points in seven of his last eight games (one goal, 10 assists), said he knew when Dale Weise gave him the puck wide that Newbury was going to drive to the middle.

“He pushed the defense back, and I’m not much of a passer, but it was a little bit of a hope pass and Newbs made something of it,” said Dupont, whose 29 assists are third on the team behind Newbury (38) and defenseman Wade Redden (30). “It was an emotional win for the boys. We had to grind it out, and those are the types of games that we’re going to have to win. It was almost a playoff-type atmosphere, and now we know we can win in this building. These two points were big in the playoff race.”

The Whale had the game’s first good scoring during an early power play, but Zatkoff came out to deny Weise off the left wing at 4:25. Whale defenseman Stu Bickel then made the period’s best save at 7:42 when he got his skate on a point-blank bid by a wide-open Justin Johnson, who tossed his head back in disbelief that he didn’t score.

“That changes everything if you get that 1-0 lead early at home,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “But Dov was good in net, and we defended really well.”

Whale All-Star right wing Jeremy Williams fired a rebound just wide right at 9:56, then with 4:40 left in the period, Grumet-Morris was in perfect position to stop a snap shot from 25 feet in the slot by Dwight King, who also shook his head in disbelief.

The Whale dominated the second period with half of their 16 shots coming during two power plays. But the sometimes acrobatic Zatkoff first denied a wide-open Evgeny Grachev, who broke in 2-on-1 with John Mitchell, and outmaneuvered defenseman Jake Muzzin before being stopped from 20 feet in the slot at 1:27.

Then on the Whale’s third power play, Zatkoff sprawled to smother Mitchell’s rebound at 4:42. Grumet-Morris kept it scoreless when he flicked out his right pad to stop Thomas Hickey’s slap shot at 7:17 and did likewise to All-Star Viatcheslav Voynov at 9:02 with the Monarchs on their first power play.

After the Whale again failed to convert with the man advantage despite getting four more shots, Grumet-Morris slid across to stop Brandon Kozun’s close-in redirection of King’s centering pass with 1:36 left in the period. Then on the ensuing rush, a screened Zatkoff managed to get his blocker on Williams’ shot from the left circle with 28.2 seconds to go.

After Newbury gave the Whale the lead, Grumet-Morris alertly stretched to his right to stop John Zeiler’s backhander in front with 1:24 left, two seconds after the Monarchs pulled Zatkoff for a sixth attacker.

“They did a good job to get it through, and the tip kind of made the puck lose a little bit of force, and I was lucky enough to get a piece of it,” Grumet-Morris said. “Sometimes it’s a bounce here or a bounce there, and tonight we had the bounces.”

Mitchell had an empty-net goal with 33.7 seconds left waved off because of an offsides call, but the Whale were not to be denied in their final stop at the Verizon Wireless Center barring a playoff visit.

“It was a good road win for us,” Gernander said. “We didn’t get frustrated in the second period, and that’s what it’s going to take. You have to put all that other stuff aside and stay with the program.”

GARLOCK RETURNS FOR WHALE

Center Ryan Garlock returned to the Whale lineup after sitting out a 5-4 loss at Worcester on Sunday with an injury. He replaced defenseman Lee Baldwin, who was reassigned to Greenville of the ECHL on Thursday. Garlock was reunited with feisty wings Devin DiDiomete and Justin Soryal.

The Whale scratched forwards Chad Kolarik, Todd White and Chris McKelvie and defensemen Michael Del Zotto and Jyri Niemi. The Monarchs scratched Jordan Hill and injured Richard Clune and Andrei Loktionov, out for the season after shoulder surgery. … The Charlotte Checkers scored a 3-2 shootout victory over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who have not won in regulation since a 4-1 victory over Providence on Feb. 23. They’re 4-22-2-4 in 2011 to fall deep into the Atlantic Division cellar. … At the request of the City of Bridgeport and Fairfield University, the Sound Tigers have moved their Sunday game against Binghamton at the Webster Bank Arena from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. to allow the Stags’ men’s basketball team to host a second-round NIT game against Kent State at 12:30 p.m. Any fans who have purchased a ticket to Sunday’s game can use the ticket for the game against Binghamton and will also receive a free ticket to the Fairfield-Kent State game by showing their ticket to the Sound Tigers’ game to a representative at the Webster Bank Arena box office. Fans can get their ticket to any remaining four Sound Tigers home games by bringing their ticket stub from Sunday’s game to the box office. … Former Quinnipiac University standout Brandon Wong, who started the season with the Whale, scored the decisive shootout goal as Greenville closed in on an ECHL playoff berth with a 3-2 victory over the visiting Cincinnati Cyclones on Thursday night. Baldwin scored the first goal for the Road Warriors (39-21-4). … Former Wolf Pack and Rangers forward Manny Malhotra will be lost to the Vancouver Canucks indefinitely with an eye injury that has already required one surgical procedure. Malhotra, the Rangers’ No. 1 pick (seventh overall) in 1998, does not wear a visor and was injured when hit by a deflected puck in a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night that made the Canucks the first team to clinch a playoff spot. Malhotra, second among NHL faceoff men with a 61.7 win percentage, went directly to the hospital after blood fell on the ice and trainers quickly got a towel to Malhotra’s left eye. Defenseman Kevin Bieksa said Malhotra’s contributions are more than his 11 goals and 19 assists since being signed as a free agent in the offseason. “He’s a lot more valuable,” Bieksa said. “You could even call him our most valuable player for the season. He’s a leader in the dressing room and off the ice. He’s a voice on the bench, does a lot of things right, but first and foremost, we just hope he’s OK.”

‘DOUBLEHEADER’ SATURDAY NIGHT STARTS HEAVY HOME SCHEDULE

The Whale will play eight of their last 12 games at home, starting Saturday night against the Bruins (31-32-3-2), who have won five of seven games to get within seven points of a playoff spot. The Whale is 4-2-0-1 against the Bruins but lost the teams’ last meeting 5-4 in a shootout in the outdoor Whale Bowl game at Rentschler Field in East Hartford on Feb. 19. Maxime Sauve got the winning shootout goal after scoring in regulation. He also had two goals in each of the Bruins’ two wins.

The Bruins have been hurt by the loss of center Joe Colburne, the Boston Bruins’ first-round pick in 2008 who was part of a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs for defenseman Tomas Kaberle on Feb. 18. The P-Bruins are led by All-Star center Jamie Arniel (17, 24), center Zach Hamill (8, 29), rookie right wing Kirk MacDonald (12, 18) and veteran center Trent Whitfield (12 goals, 12 assists in 33 games), who didn’t play until Jan. 7 after he blew out his Achilles tendon while exercising in August. Rugged left wing Lane MacDermid, the son of former Hartford Whalers right wing Paul MacDermid, has six goals, nine assists and 142 penalty minutes. He also scored the winning goal in a 3-2 shootout victory over Manchester on March 9 that went a team-record 14 rounds.

Anton Khudobin has done a majority of the goaltending for the P-Bruins since the Boston Bruins acquired him from the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 28 for Jeff Penner and Mikko Lehtonen. Khudobin is 5-1-0-0 with a 2.10 GAA, .916 save percentage and one shutout in seven games after being 19-12-1 with a 2.58 GAA, .911 save percentage and one shutout with the Houston Aeros. His goalie partner now is rookie Michael Hutchinson (10-9-1, 3.25, .900, one shutout), whose emergence allowed the Bruins to loan veteran Nolan Schaefer (9-16-1, 3.11, .897) to the Hershey Bears. Schaefer had 23 saves in a 2-1 victory over the Whale last Friday.

Before the game, the first “Guns & Hoses Cup” between police and fire departments from the Greater Hartford area will be played at 4:30 p.m. to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The police team will be comprised of players from police departments in Farmington, led by Police Chief Paul Melanson, Hartford, Middletown, Rockville, Rocky Hill, Newington and West Hartford. The fire team consists predominantly of East Hartford firefighters.

Fans are encouraged to arrive early as pregame festivities include presentation of the Colors by an honor guard, a live performance of the national anthem and a ceremonial puck drop. Following the game, there will be a trophy presentation to the winning team.

Tickets can be purchased at CTHeroescup.com for $20, with half of that going to benefit the MDA. Tickets for the benefit game are good for the Whale-Bruins game, and Whale season seat-holders can receive free admission to the police-fire department game by presenting their season ticket at the gate.

The Whale will complete a busy weekend with the first of two consecutive games against the Springfield Falcons (30-34-2-3), who are in a season-high, nine-game slide (0-8-0-1) since the loss of rugged wings Tom Sestito and former Wolf Pack captain Dane Byers via deals at the trade deadline. The Falcons were challenging for their first playoff berth since 2005 before the freefall that has existed since a 4-1 victory over Portland on Feb. 26. Their only point since then came on March 5 in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Whale, who are 4-1-1-1 against Springfield and have won four in a row with three games left in the I-91 series.

The Falcons are led by rookie right wing Tomas Kubalik (22, 23), veteran centers Trevor Smith (18, 22) and Ben Guite (13, 25) and rookie left wing Maksim Mayorov (18, 13). Smith has six goals and seven assists but is minus-17 in 22 games with the Falcons since being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 4 for defenseman Nate Guenin, the Rangers’ fourth-round pick in 2002 who never played in the organization before signing a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2006 after four years at Ohio State. Former Wolf Pack captain/center Greg Moore has one assist in seven games since being part of the Sestito trade. Former Wolf Pack David LeNeveu (16-18-2, 2.98, .895) and Gustaf Wesslau (12-16-1, 3.17, .898) are sharing the goaltending. Fans are encouraged to bring their skates for a postgame skate that will include some Whale players.

The Whale and Falcons also play Wednesday before the first-year Charlotte Checkers, the Whale’s former ECHL affiliate, make their second XL Center appearance on Friday and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers visit next Saturday to end the homestand. The Whale then plays successive games at Providence on March 27 and April 1.

The Manchester perspective can be found at UnionLeader.com.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

STANDINGS:

(Standings via theahl.com)

NOTES:

* Dov Grumet-Morris had his first Connecticut Whale shutout

* After playing 10-of-12 on the road, the Whale now have 5-straight home games that are likely to make or break the season.

LINES:

Grachev – Mitchell – Williams
Dupont – Newbury – Weise
Tessier – Lemieux – Couture
Soryal – Garlock – DiDiomete

Redden – Nightingale
Valentenko – Parlett
Bickel – Kundratek

Grumet-Morris
Talbot

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Chad Kolarik – Undisclosed Injury – Day-to-Day
Michael Del Zotto – Broken Finger, 2-3 weeks
Jyri Niemi – Separated Shoulder – Four – Six Weeks
Todd White – Concussion – Indefinite
Chris McKelvie – Foot Surgery, Season

THREE STARS:

1. CT – K. Newbury
2. MCH – J. Zatkoff
3. CT – D. Grumet-Morris

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Ghislain Hebert (49)

Linesmen:
Landon Bathe (80)
Joe Andrews (32)

NEXT GAME:

The Whale return to the XL Center for a battle with the P-Bruins. With only a dozen left in the season and only a two-point lead on third place, the Whale cannot afford to let up and need to win this game. The puck drops at 7pm with Bob Crawford handling 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 1 at Manchester Monarchs 0 – Status: Final
Friday, March 18, 2011 – Verizon Wireless Arena

Connecticut 0 0 1 – 1
Manchester 0 0 0 – 0

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Muzzin Mch (roughing), 3:58; Mitchell Ct (roughing), 17:13; Muzzin Mch (roughing), 17:13; Kolomatis Mch (hooking), 18:29.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Zeiler Mch (tripping), 3:45; Soryal Ct(roughing), 7:56; Elkins Mch (tripping), 10:27.

3rd Period-1, Connecticut, Newbury 15 (Dupont, Weise), 2:47. Penalties-Bickel Ct (fighting), 7:05; Johnson Mch (fighting), 7:05.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 10-16-7-33. Manchester 9-8-8-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 4; Manchester 0 / 1.
Goalies-Connecticut, Grumet-Morris 8-3-1 (25 shots-25 saves). Manchester, Zatkoff 18-13-5 (33 shots-32 saves).
A-7,490
Referees-Ghislain Hebert (49).
Linesmen-Landon Bathe (80), Joe Andrews (32).