BY: Bruce Berlet
While the New York Rangers prepared to face off with the Stanley Cup runner-up Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night, Mats Zuccarello was 3,000 miles away, tricky-dribbling pucks and cavorting with his new/old Connecticut Whale teammates at the XL Center in Hartford.
Though disappointed by a demotion two days earlier, Zuccarello was upbeat as he jabbed and jostled with other Whale players, especially goalie Chad Johnson and fellow forwards John Mitchell and Carl Hagelin. Zuccarello playfully fired pucks toward Johnson during momentary lulls in practice and chatted with and participated in a conditioning drill with Mitchell, Hagelin and defenseman Pavel Valentenko late in a 50-minute workout.
After firing a few final shots at an empty net to end his second workout with the Whale, Zuccarello adjourned to a locker room in which he filled the stall left by center Kris Newbury, called up Sunday after leading the Whale in goals (four), assists (four) and points (eight) in their first four games. Zuccarello would have preferred to be in Canada rather than Connecticut, but he realized lots of ice time in the AHL was better for his development at this point.
“No, I’m not surprised (to be sent down),” Zuccarello said. “There’s nothing you can do about that except play hard and do whatever you can to get back.
“I need to play games and I need to play a lot. My goal is to produce and help this team win and show I’m worthy of a shot.
“There are four good lines here and we should be a good team.”
Hagelin, a rookie speedster on the left wing, has three goals in the last two games, including a shorthanded beauty in the third period of a 5-4 shootout loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday night. Mitchell, an eight-year veteran and another who was among the Rangers’ final cuts, admitted he has got off to a slow start with one assist and being minus-4 in four games but likes the addition of Zuccarello to the team.
“For some reason, I’ve felt a little sluggish, but I’m working hard this week to try to get some jump back,” Mitchell said before a ride on the stationary bike.
Zuccarello had 13 goals and 16 assists in 36 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack/Whale last season and six goals and 17 assists in 42 games with the Rangers. He had arrived in North America as an international star after being named MVP of the Swedish Elite League with MoDo before signing a two-year, $3.5 million contract with the Rangers.
But despite Dale Weise being claimed on waivers by the Canucks and Chad Kolarik being sidelined for six months after surgery on a torn ACL in his left knee on Oct. 5, Zuccarello was caught in a numbers game in New York. He averaged 10 shifts and 8:25 in the Rangers’ first three games while playing mostly with Erik Christensen and Michael Rupp.
“It’s not so much his play, it’s the dynamic,” Rangers coach John Tortorella told the New York media before the team left for a four-game Western swing through Canada. “I had problems getting him on the ice. I made a decision that I wanted to use (center Artem Anisimov) more on the power play, which cut into more of (Zuccarello’s) ice time. We felt coming out west and playing in some of these cities that we needed more jam, and (Newbury) has played very well down in Hartford. So we wanted to make that change.”
In three scoreless games this season, Zuccarello never played more than the 9:54 he logged on opening night against the Los Angeles Kings in Stockholm, Sweden. But that will change starting Friday night at the XL Center against the Manchester Monarchs.
“There wasn’t much to say to (Zuccarello) from a hockey prospective,” Gernander said. “He has been assigned to us, and we know what that entails and have a pretty good idea what to expect from Zuccs. He’ll get his ice time, and he’s going to be counted on to produce some offense for us. Obviously there’s a little bit of a void after the start that Newbs had and him being recalled. But I can’t say it enough that whenever someone gets recalled or injured or whatever, it’s an opportunity for others.”
Gernander agreed playing more was better for Zuccarello’s development.
“I’m sure that’s part of the equation,” Gernander said. “He’s an offensive guy that needs the minutes and the offensive opportunity, and that’s what’s going to benefit his game. There are lots of different dynamics and team chemistries and what not. If you get caught in that gray area where Zuccs is, then you have to enhance your game to the point where when you do get your next opportunity, you’re a top-nine or top-six guy that’s going to stick. Or maybe you have to broaden your horizons a little bit and develop some kind of specialty skill. He’s got the shootout skill, but maybe it might be penalty kill or face-offs or something that’s a bit of a specialized skill. The more tools you have in your arsenal, the better equipped you are for your recall.”
Zuccarello worked out extensively in New York during the summer with Rangers center Brian Boyle and skating guru Barbara Underwood.
“I felt much better than last year,” Zuccarello said. “I improved a lot in every part of my game, so I was happy about that.”
And that included his defensive play.
“To me, guys who are smart players and find those openings offensively, they can do it defensively, too, and sometimes it’s a matter of commitment,” said Gernander, an excellent two-way player during his career. “In this day and age, there isn’t anyone who can go out there and just play on their offensive merits. Back in the day, there used to be a kind of a philosophy of ‘how are we going to score MORE than the other team?’ Now, with all the attention to detail defensively, you have to be rock-solid defensively because it’s really hard to score goals.
“The commitment has to always be there for defense or eventually it’s going to jump up and bite you. And it’s not an on-again, off-again thing. You can’t overlook an opponent and say, ‘Well, tonight we really have to be good defensively.’ It’s habitual.”
Whale blueliner after Brendan Bell was called up on Sunday as insurance for the Ranger defense. Former Wolf Pack defenseman Michael Sauer missed his second game Tuesday night in Vancouver with a shoulder injury that was aggravated in the team’s second game Oct. 8 in Stockholm. Bell had one assist in two games after being assigned to the Whale when the Rangers returned from Europe on Oct. 9. He was an alternate captain in his Whale debut when Wade Redden was out because of illness. Redden returned Saturday night and was reunited with Jared Nightingale.
Ryan Bourque, who sat out Saturday night’s game due to injury, already has some serious work to do to catch older brother Chris in the AHL scoring race. Ryan, the Rangers’ third-round pick in 2009, was scoreless in his first three pro games. Chris, the Washington Capitals’ second-round pick in 2004 who is in his seventh pro season, had two goals and three assists in the Hershey Bears’ 7-5 victory over Norfolk on Friday night and is tied for third in AHL scoring with four goals and four assists in four games. He has one goal and three assists in 33 NHL games with the Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins and has 109 goals and 201 assists in 329 AHL games with the Bears and Portland Pirates.
The Whale (1-1-0-2) is off until Friday at 7 p.m. when they host the Monarchs (3-2-0-0), who had a three-game winning streak ended Sunday in a 5-3 loss to the Springfield Falcons that equaled the number of goals they allowed in their first four games. Fans can take advantage of a “buy one, get one free” ticket offer for upper-level seats that are available only at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center.
The Monarchs are led by center Andrei Loktionov (three goals, five assists), who leads the AHL in plus-minus (plus-7) and is tied for third in scoring. Former Yale forward David Meckler and captain Marc-Andre Cliché, the Rangers’ second-round pick in 2005 who was part of a trade with the Los Angeles Kings that landed Sean Avery, are among six Monarchs with four points (three goals, one assist each). Martin Jones (3-1-0-0, 1.26 goals-against average, .956 save percentage) is the top goalie for the Monarchs, who will be without their best defenseman, 2011 All-Star Slava Voynov. The Russian standout was called up by the Kings on Sunday to replace Drew Doughty, who should be out 7-to-10 days after being placed on injured reserve with an upper body injury sustained when slammed hard by Zac Rinaldo 20 seconds into a 3-2 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. Voynov will make his NHL debut Tuesday night at home against the St. Louis Blues, while Doughty will be sidelined after signing an eight-year, $56 million contract just before the Kings’ season-opening trip to Europe that started with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Rangers in Stockholm.
After facing the Monarchs, the Whale will play a home-and-home set with the Falcons (3-2-0-0) on Saturday and Sunday and face several familiar faces, starting with former Wolf Pack left wing/captain Dane Byers (three goals, one assist), acquired from the Rangers last Nov. 13 for Kolarik. Center Ryan Russell (three goals, no assists), a seventh-round pick in 2005 who was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for a seventh-round pick in 2007, had two goals in the win over the Monarchs. Former Wolf Pack/Whale center Ryan Garlock (no goals, five assists) signed a tryout contract with the Falcons and is tied for second in scoring with former All-Star center Martin St. Pierre (two goals, three assists), four points behind Nick Drazenovic (two goals, seven assists), who is tied for the AHL scoring lead. Former Wolf Pack left wing Alexandre Giroux was called up by the parent Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, replacing Greenwich native and former Avon Old Farms and Boston College standout Cam Atkinson, who was the Blue Jackets’ sixth-round pick in 2008 and has one goal and one assist in three games. Forward Matt Calvert was assigned to the Falcons on Monday after getting one assist in five games with the Blue Jackets, who are off to their worst start in franchise history (0-4-1) and center Jeff Carter is questionable for a game Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars because of a slight fracture on the top of his right foot sustained when he blocked a shot in a 4-2 loss to the Stars on Saturday night. It’s the same foot that was bruised on the second day of training camp. Carter had surgery on the foot after the 2009-10 season when he was with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Atkinson and wing Chris Kreider, the Rangers’ first-round pick (19th overall) in 2009, were major reasons that BC won the national championship in 2010, when they beat the University of Wisconsin, whose key personnel included Rangers center Derek Stepan and defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who started last season with the Whale. Avon native Ben Smith, who attended the Westminster School in Simsbury, scored the winner in the game and had 19 goals in 63 games for the Rockford IceHogs last season, when he tallied his first NHL goal with the Chicago Blackhawks. Smith, who also won a national title at BC in 2008, has recovered from a concussion sustained in preseason but was sent to the IceHogs on Monday to get in shape for a recall to the Blackhawks, coached by former Hartford Whalers defenseman Joel Quenneville.
Atkinson led the nation in goals in 2009-10 with 30, including two in the title game. In a 10-game stretch, he had three hat tricks and then proved that wasn’t a fluke last season when he had 31 goals and 21 assists in 38 games before the top-seeded Eagles were upset by Colorado College in the NCAA West Regional semifinals with Kreider on the sidelines with a broken jaw. Atkinson then signed a two-year contract with the Blue Jackets and had three goals and two assists in five games with the Falcons. While Atkinson graduated, Kreider elected to play his junior year with the Eagles. He was named MVP of the University of North Dakota tournament Oct. 7-8 as the Eagles moved to No. 1 in the rankings. But they lost 4-2 to third-ranked Denver on Saturday before a sellout crowd of 7,884 in Kelley Rink in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Then they beat host New Hampshire 5-1 on Sunday behind junior goalie Parker Milner’s career-high 39 saves, including 20 in the second period. Kreider scored his third goal of the season.
Allen York, Danny Taylor and UMass grad Paul Dainton each have a win in goal for the Falcons, who host the Whale Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the MassMutual Center in Springfield before visiting the XL Center in Hartford on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Sunday game is another “buy one, get one free” ticket offer in the upper level, available only at the Public Power Ticket Office. Tickets for Whale home games are on sale at the Public Power Ticket Office, on-line at www.ctwhale.com and through TicketMaster Charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000.
Before the game Sunday, Whale and Falcons fans will face off at noon in the first game of their inaugural seven-game series through mid-March. For information on how to join the teams and tickets to the seven games, visit www.whalefalconsfangame@gmail.com.
WEISE FACES SOME OLD MATES
Weise faced a second former team Tuesday night not long after leaving. It first happened when he was in the Western Hockey League in 2005.
“Funny enough, I sort of had the same situation in juniors,” Weise told Ian Walker of the Vancouver Sun. “I got cut by Medicine Hat when I was 17 and was picked up by Swift Current a month later and what do you know but my first game was against the Tigers? I scored my first WHL goal that night.
“Either way, there’s some extra motivation going in.”
Tortorella thought Weise had NHL potential, but the Rangers didn’t have room for him, a la Zuccarello.
“Why didn’t he make the team?” Tortorella said rhetorically in Vancouver on Monday. “Because the other guys that are on the team played better. He had a good camp, but we felt the guys that we kept were better players at that time.”
Weise, who was scoreless in 10 games with the Rangers last season, played fairly well in the preseason but was beaten out by Zuccarello for the fourth right-wing spot this year. Weise was also scoreless in his first five games with the Canucks while playing less than Zuccarello, averaging 11.8 shifts and 7:55 on the fourth line mostly with Maxim Lapierre and Aaron Volpatti.
“It’s one of the lines that is really coming together,” Canucks coach Alain Vigneault told Walker. “The last game in Edmonton they were real efficient. They spent a lot of time in the other end and they were physical when the opportunity was there. That line is slowly forming an identity and the way they are playing they’re forcing my hand to keep them together, which is what I want.
“I want players to force my hand and say I deserve one of those offensive spots. We’re giving certain players the opportunity and other than the twins we haven’t seen a lot happening.”
Weise said he is most looked forward to playing against Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto. The two forged a strong relationship last season in Hartford and still talk regularly.
“It’s definitely going to be interesting, that’s for sure,” Del Zotto said. “I expect a few good battles along the boards. It seems he’s been given a chance (in Vancouver) and is making the most of it, so I’m really happy for him.”
The Canucks held a pregame tribute to former center Rick Rypien, who committed suicide in his home in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, on Aug. 15 after suffering depression for more than 10 years.
“We will be respectful of a fellow player but then will play our game when the whistle blows,” Rangers defenseman Jeff Woywitka said.
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