VERSUS 
Muhammad Ali faced one of his toughest opponents, George Foreman in one of the most amazing fights of all time, “The Thrilla in Manila.” In that fight, Ali allowed Foreman to throw all of his strongest punches, which he dubbed “Rope-A-Dope,” and then when he sensed that his opponent was tiring, rallied to win.
Over the last three games, including Wednesday night’s 3-2 win over the Springfield Falcons in front of 3,176 at the XL Center, the Whale have taken all that their opponent had to offer and rallied back to get the victory and their much needed two points.
Connecticut’s team spotted their I-91 rivals a two goal lead over the first 31:52 of the game, but rallied back on dramatic goals by Derek Couture in the second frame and then Dale Wiese and John Mitchell provided the offense in the third to extend the Whale/Wolf Pack’s dominance over Springfield to a staggering plus-51 games all-time between the two teams at 86-35-6-10-4. In 2010-2011, the Whale have won five straight against the Falcons and are now 6-1-1-1 with one more game to go this season between the two teams on April 2nd at the MassMutual Center.
“We came out slow, but they came out hard and played very well and enthusiastically,” Whale netminder and winner of his career high sixth straight, Dov Grumet-Morris (25 saves, 10-3-1) said. “They certainly dominated the first half of the game, then we started to play in spurts and got some momentum at the end of the second period against a goalie (Paul Dainton) who played an outstanding game and we were fortunate to have a great third period.”
Whale head coach Ken Gernander knew that the team had had this issue the past couple of games, especially in Sunday’s contest, a 3-1 Whale win over the Falcons, and thought he had addressed it with his team. “It was a bit of a slow start. We had a good weekend with (winning) the three (games) in three (nights) and then having a little break, you have to recapture that intensity,” He said. “We had addressed that we wanted to have a much better start than (Sunday). The other night we had three shots and (Wednesday) we had five, but we were looking for more like upwards of ten (shots). We tried to get a much better start, but that wasn’t the case. But again the guys stuck with it and found a way to get their two points at the end of the night.”
When asked how important it was to be entering the playoffs as hot as his team is, having won nine of their last eleven games, the Minnesota native and fourth year head coach didn’t mince words. “It’s obviously real important. We’re in a race with a couple of other teams for that last playoff spot, it’s critical. It’s important. If we’re going to make any kind of splash in the playoffs, we’ve got to be playing good hockey. We can’t be turning it on and off with a switch.”
“We’re winning games now,” Jeremy Williams, who set up the game –winner, said. “But nothing to take anything away from Springfield, but if we get up against a team like Norfolk (Admirals), it might be a different story and we could be down 4-0 if we start like that, so…we have to play with that same urgency in the first period as we did in the third.”
The ever-confident Dale Weise had a more positive view of recent events. “Third periods this team just seems to come on and that’s when we want to play and it’s good and bad. No lead is safe when we’re down. We know we can come back. But you can’t spot good teams leads like that.”
The Whale’s game winner came from the trade deadline acquired John Mitchell with 8:43 to go in the game but that goal would never have come without Williams and skating and stick handling moves that looked like he was being remotely controlled like a player in a video game. Williams skated around and through virtually all five Falcons, but he especially left wings ex-Wolf Pack captain, Greg Moore, Tomas Kubalik and center Trevor Smith scratching their heads. After shucking and jiving all over the offensive zone, Williams began to fall down and was looking for the mastermind of the play, Wade Redden, but he didn’t see Redden and instead had the presence of mind to leave the puck in a spot where it was picked up by Mitchell, who spun and threw the puck at the net. Mitchell’s plan worked as it slid under the left pad of Dainton for his sixth of the season.
“I blacked out a little bit there,” Williams said. “(Redden) told me to just go behind him all the time so I just followed him. Reds said on the faceoff play we were going to where he goes down the wall and I pop out (to cover the point). It ended up happening three or four times on one shift where he played forward and I played D. It was fortunate play. I just found some room.
“The blind squirrel even finds a nut once in a while.” Williams said to a big laugh. “It’s the most inconsistent part of my game. Sometimes I can see the holes, and sometimes I can’t. Fortunately I was able to have a little bit of vision there.
I don’t want to take anything away from this great play (laughing), but I saw Reds was coming down and tried to move it over to him, but Mitch ended up going into the spot was Reds was. So he made a good play in turning back. I thought Reds was coming back. I putted where I wanted it, it’s just Reds had stopped because Mitchie came up and it ended up in the right spot anyway.”
“Usually Willie would shoot that at the net so I kind of decided I would just go stand in front and wait for a rebound or a deflection or something like that. He looked like he was getting tangled up, so I just kind of tried to skate towards him to come and help and support him.” Mitchell said. “I just wanted to grab the puck and shoot it as quickly fast as I could and that works out a lot of the time, even in the NHL, goals are scored like that…and catch the goalies and surprise them with the shot, and that’s exactly what happened.”
The Whale fell behind on Wade MacLeod’s his first professional goal in his first professional game when, with just 1:58 to go in the first period, he took a long cross-ice pass from David Savard on the left wing boards and got a shot off by going wide and getting by Tomas Kundratek. From the left circle, Macleod put a bee-bee of a shot right over Grumet-Morris’ glove.
Despite being out shot 10-5, the Whale found themselves down by just a single goal entering the second frame. But that lead doubled at 8:59 when Cody Goloubef fired a shot from the left point that looked like it changed direction off either Stu Bickel or Greg Moore and under Grumet-Morris.
But Derek Couture, who has struggled to get goals despite a large number of chances, finally found pay-dirt when his shot from the right circle beat Dainton over the blocker for his second of the season. Much like Mitchell’s winner, Couture’s goal came off a strong skating effort by Ryan Garlock in the offensive zone. Garlock moved the puck from the left side to the right through traffic and found Couture all alone for the shot. Garlock received the lone assist, his 17th of the season.
“Finally one goes in for me,” Couture said of his second goal of the season since being recalled from Victoria of the ECHL. “Keep shooting and they’re going to go in. It’s got to happen. I played the same way all the time, and if the goals go in, it’s kind of a bonus in my (checking) role.”
The Whale clearly picked up their game and with 57 seconds to go in the period, Goloubef took a holding call that would become the turning point of the game early in the third period.
But before the Weise’s power play goal at 54 seconds of the third frame, Grumet-Morris would make a HUGE stop on Kubalik on a shorthanded rush with just 22.5 left in the second. Grumet-Morris gives up that one there and any realistic shot of knotting the game and taking the momentum into the locker is gone.
Dainton, who showed great poise and effort in his first professional start, came out strong for his teammates to try and hold on for the win. Dainton make a strong stop on Brodie Dupont ‘s rebound attempt of a Williams shot just 38 seconds into the period.
But the Whale were not to be denied.
It all started with a faceoff win by Kris Newbury over Ben Guite in the left circle. Newbury fed it back to Redden along the left point. Redden threw it back to Weise along the left wall with 20 ticks left in the PP. Weise moved the puck over to Newbury along the left side of the crease. The Whale center saw Dupont all alone on the far side of the crease and tried to connect with him, but the puck got away from the left winger into the right corner. Williams retrieved the puck an through it past Greg Moore to Dupont in the right corner.
Weise picks up the story.
“We had good pressure on the (power play). We had a couple of chances. I don’t know whether Dupes was trying to pass it to me or back through to Newbs, but I just kind of redirected it to Newbs and he’s a good passer,” Weise said. “I beat my man to the net, good strong stick and he gave me a great pass.”
Weise redirected Newbury’s pass past Dainton. For the Winnipeg, Manitoba native who has missed time in this his final year of his entry level contract, he’s lost significant time in the AHL to injuries and a call-up to the parent New York Rangers, in spite of that, Weise has logged 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points in 38 games.
But perhaps the biggest play of the game came against the ex-Wolf-Pack captain with 4:09 remaining when he, and Guite were stopped by Grumet-Morris.
After Guite came out of the penalty box at 3:55 after serving his two-minute sentence for a high sticking penalty, Guite fed Moore along the left wing side. Moore rushed up ice and went wide on Blake Parlett who fell to the ice. Moore continued in on Morris.
“(Moore) was able to gain a step on (Parlett).” Grumet Morris said. “The difficulty for our D was that there was a second and third drive. So (The Falcons) had two more men coming, so the defenseman (Parlett) has to be aware and respect that and (Parlett) let him go wide to a certain extent. Moore made a great play to cut in. He made a great move and I got lucky and made a lucky save. There was a second and a third chance as well.”
(For a fascinating and deeply intricate review of the physics of Moore’s play and why he was able to stop it, listen to Grumet-Morris’s interview below).
Dainton was pulled for a sixth attacker with 1:22 left, but the Whale held on for their ninth win in their last 11 games.
“We went through that slump at the start of the year (going 1-9-2-1 between Oct. 20 and Nov. 17), and I’ve been on teams where that’s happened,” Williams said summing up where the Whale are at at this point in the season. “It’s better to go through something like that at the start and to learn from it than to go through it at the end. So we’re starting to peak at the right time and we still have room to grow and I know the guys can do it in here.”
Bruce Berlet has the official game story right here at Howlings. The always terrific Fran Sypek retells the story from the Springfield perspective at MassLive.com.
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET
STANDINGS:
(Standings via theahl.com)
VIDEO:
SOUNDS OF THE GAME:
Ken Gernander:
Dov Grumet-Morris:
John Mitchell:
Jeremy Williams:
Dale Weise:
Derek Couture:
NOTES:
* Leslie Treff, one of the very nicest people there is in all of sports, writes a scouting report of what she thinks are the New York Rangers prospects which of course includes many of the Whale players at “Hockey’s Future.” She ranks them on the right side. Read her take and let’s discuss what you think of her assessments…
* The Whale are now 11 games over hockey .500 for the first time this season at 37-26-2-6.
* Worcester, who had won dramatically on Tuesday night to cut the Whale lead over them for third place and a playoff lock, to two points are back at four. Both teams have played the same number of games. The Whale are also one point ahead of ex-Wolf Pack, Corey Locke and the Binghamton Senators. The Sens beat Albany to keep pace with the Whale.
* The Whale padded their excellent mark when trailing after two periods and are now 7-21-0-2. Four of those wins, and their last three in a row, have come in that manner over the last three weeks.
* Springfield is now 0-for-March. The team has not won a game (0-11-1-0) since the trade deadline when ex-Whale captain Dane Byers and Tom Sestito were sent to Adirondack (Philadelphia) for forwards Greg Moore and Michael Chaput.
LINES:
Dupont – Newbury – Weise
Grachev – Mitchell – Williams
Kerbashian – Lemieux – Tessier
Soryal – Garlock – Couture
Redden – Nightingale
Valentenko – Parlett
Bickel – Kundratek
Grumet-Morris
Talbot
(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)
SCRATCHES:
Devin DiDiomete – Undisclosed – Day-to-Day
Chad Kolarik – Hamstring – 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 – J. Mitchell
2. CT – D. Grumet-Morris
3. CT – J. Williams
ON ICE OFFICIALS:
Referee:
Terry Koharski (10)
Marcus Vinnerborg (45)
Linesmen:
Brent Colby (7)
David Spannaus (8)
NEXT GAME:
Friday is a huge night for the Whale. They dropped two games on the road to the Charlotte Checkers. The first a blowout and the second one a 1-0 loss to their ex-ECHL affiliate. Charlotte has a three seed tied up in the East Division, the Whale currently hold that spot in the Atlantic. The Whale are one of the hottest teams in the AHL and need to continue to be that way when the Checkers come to town as each of these last games are critical if the team is to play in the playoffs.. 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.
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SCORE-SHEET:
Springfield Falcons 2 at Connecticut Whale 3 – Status: Final
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Springfield 1 1 0 – 2
Connecticut 0 1 2 – 3
1st Period-1, Springfield, MacLeod 1 (Savard, Holden), 18:02. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-2, Springfield, Goloubef 5 (Kubalik, Smith), 8:59. 3, Connecticut, Couture 2 (Garlock), 11:52. Penalties-Filatov Spr (slashing), 2:52; Parlett Ct (tripping), 6:53; Lemieux Ct (interference), 13:35; Goloubef Spr (holding), 19:03.
3rd Period-4, Connecticut, Weise 16 (Newbury, Dupont), 0:54 (PP). 5, Connecticut, Mitchell 6 (Williams, Grachev), 11:17. Penalties-Guite Spr (high-sticking), 1:55.
Shots on Goal-Springfield 10-11-6-27. Connecticut 5-13-16-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 0 / 2; Connecticut 1 / 3.
Goalies-Springfield, Dainton 0-1-0 (34 shots-31 saves). Connecticut, Grumet-Morris 10-3-1 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-3,176
Referees-Terry Koharski (10), Marcus Vinnerborg (45).
Linesmen-Brent Colby (7), David Spannaus (8).
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