VERSUS 
If there’s one thing that’s consistent about the Connecticut Whale in 2010-2011, it’s that they don’t win many games pretty; that’s for sure.
Tuesday afternoon’s holiday matinee in Portland was no different. The Whale brought a one-goal lead into the third period, gave up another late goal in regulation and then went on to win in overtime 2-1 on a Wade Redden shorthanded goal in front of 5,574 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
“It’s funny, one of the guys came up to me after the game and said, ‘That was one of the ugliest games I’ve ever seen.’ But that’s the kind of a game that we gotta play,” Dale Weise told Howlings, “At the end of the day we get the win and that’s all that matters. (Ugly) is just the way we gotta play.”
Perhaps not playing in sub-zero temperatures with the wind and lousy ice, put a little extra incentive into the legs of the Whale skaters, but when the Whale came out of the blocks Monday they were definitely ready to take it to on of the teams they are chasing for a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.
“We had a good start, which is not normally our strong point.” Weise said. “We just kept the game simple, which I don’t think we did in the outdoor game and I don’t think we did in the Adirondack game either. That’s the way we gotta do things to win games.”
Overtime started with the Whale having 15 seconds of remaining power play time after referee Terry Koharski whistled Tim Conboy for Unsportsmanlike Conduct for comments the defenseman made to the veteran official from the bench.
But that all went for naught when Jeremy Williams took a very foolish Tripping penalty way off the play just six seconds into the period putting the Whale on the PK after 9 seconds of 3-on-3. While it looked grim for the road team, who knew it would set up the game winner?
Marc-Andre Gragnani had the puck on the right point and was looking to advance it down low. Tim Kennedy, who had a very strong game, stripped Gragnani of the puck. The Pirate defenseman tried to poke it past the Whale forward but fell and took himself out of the play. Kennedy rushed the puck ahead along the left wing with Redden joining the rush coming up the center against a lone Pirate defender. Kennedy held the puck for what seemed like an eternity and at the last possible second then it to the wide open Whale defenseman. Redden fired a slap-shot that beat Jhonas Enroth (29 saves, 18-16-2) for the game-winner.
The Whale peppered Enroth with 18 shots, three shy of the team’s season high for a period, 21 which came against Manchester on Jan. 8, but none were able to get past the Portland netminder.
Shots were 18-4 at the end of one period, but the game remained without a goal.
In the second frame the Whale finally solved Enroth and again Kennedy was in the middle of it.
Much like the goal that he scored in the Whale Bowl and the game winner in this one, it came off of a solid defensive play by Kennedy. Gragnani made an errant pass in his own end and Kennedy picked it off almost right off the stick.
“I came on for Jeremy Williams,” Weise said. “As I was skating through the neutral zone, I saw the turnover there to Kennedy. He made a pretty quick heads up play to throw it to me. The D didn’t really take away much and I saw that Enroth was kind of challenging me. He’s a guy who likes to cut off the angles and I made a quick pass to Grach on the other side and he fired it home.”
2:23 later, the Pirates had an excellent chance to get on the scoreboard.
Derek Whitmore picked up a loose puck and fed Maxime Legault in front of Chad Johnson (15 saves, 16-18-3), making his first start since Feb. 6. Johnson had good position but Legault, off to Johnson’s left, put the pass wide away from the open net.
Newcomers Francis Lemieux and Alexandre Imbeault, who were called up from the Florida Everblades because of their adept offensive capabilities each had strong chances on Enroth but were both denied at 15:42.
So the Whale, for the second game in a row entered the third period with the lead only to watch it disappear.
After killing off an early (2:03) double minor to Justin Soryal for elbowing and unsportsmanlike conduct the Whale regained momentum and looked to cash in at 3:12.
Kelsey Tessier, who has been steadily improving throughout the season, made a swift move on Nick Crawford putting the puck through his legs and growing around the much taller player, and finding daylight to challenge for an insurance tally only to have Enroth turn it aside.
Gragnani just had a miserable game as he got caged in solitary after Koharski called him for two consecutive penalties at 8:16 and 11:59. But once again the power play came up short for the Whale when it could have put the game away.
That failure became bathed in yellow highlighter when, with just 3:28 remaining in regulation, Dennis McCauley’s shot in front was stopped by Johnson with the left pad. But as has been a sticking point for sometime with Johnson’s game, he could not control the rebound and it went right out to Mark Mancari on the left of the slot. The Pirate right winger drifted backwards a bit, slid off and backhanded it under Johnson to tie the score at a goal each per slide.
While Johnson didn’t see a lot of action throughout this game, there were some particularly timely stops that he did make and none moreso than the one he made with just 15 seconds left on the clock.
Derek Whitmore and NHL veteran Mark Parrish came down on a 2-on-1 as time was ticking down. It looked bad fr the visitors, but Johnson read it perfectly and broke up the play with a poke check to end the threat.
“I thought he was good,” Weise said of his goaltender. “He made big saves at big times when we were up 1-0 and to keep it a close game. It probably wasn’t the most challenging game for him, but I think it’s good to have a big game like that, especially with such a strong save at the end of regulation. It’ll help him get his confidence back up because he’s a guy that once he gets his confidence going, look out because he becomes unbeatable.”
Bob Crawford pulled double-duty again for this one, calling the game and writing the CTWhale.com recap.
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET
STANDINGS:
(Standings via theahl.com)
NOTES:
* The Whale are 17-1-0-3 when leading after two periods.
* In the last ten Connecticut is 6-3-0-1
* Amazingly, Mats Zuccarello is STILL the teams’ leading scorer among rookies with 13g, 12a, 25pts.
* New additions Francis Lemieux and Alexandre Imbeault both made their debuts for the Connecticut Whale after being signed to PTO contracts the past two days.
* Tony Tuzzolino, a member of the 2000 Hartford Wolf Pack that won the Calder Cup, had his younger brother Nick Tuzzolino in the lineup for the Pirates.
LINES:
Grachev – Kennedy – Williams
Dupont – Tessier – Weise
Soryal – Lemieux– Imbeault
Niemi – Eizenman – DiDiomete
Redden – Nightingale
Valentenko – Parlett
Baldwin – Bickel
Johnson
Grumet-Morris
(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)
SCRATCHES:
Chad Kolarik – Hamstring, Day-to-Day
Tomas Kundratek – Flu, Day-to-Day
Cam Talbot – Healthy scratch
Chris McKelvie – Foot Surgery, Undetermined
Todd White – Concussion – Undetermined
Ryan Garlock – Lower Body – Undetermined
THREE STARS:
1. CT – W. Redden
2. POR – J. Enroth
3. CT – E. Grachev
ON ICE OFFICIALS:
Referee:
Terry Koharski (10)
Linesmen:
Joe Andrews (32)
Landon Bathe (80)
NEXT GAME:
Down to Charlotte for back-to-back games with the team that was last season’s ECHL affiliate before they moved up to become Carolina’s AHL team. Games are on Thursday and Saturday with the puck dropping both nights at 7pm. Bob Crawford has 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 Portland Pirates 1 – Status: Final OT
Monday, February 21, 2011 – Cumberland County Civic Center
Connecticut 0 1 0 1 – 2
Portland 0 0 1 0 – 1
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Tuzzolino Por (hooking), 2:24; DiDiomete Ct (instigating, fighting, misconduct – instigating), 12:29; Conboy Por (tripping, fighting), 12:29; Lemieux Ct (cross-checking), 14:56; O’Hanley Por (interference), 16:20; Soryal Ct (hooking), 19:53.
2nd Period-1, Connecticut, Grachev 14 (Kennedy, Weise), 6:19. Penalties-Bickel Ct (boarding), 11:08.
3rd Period-2, Portland, Mancari 32 (McCauley), 16:32. Penalties-Soryal Ct (elbowing, unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:03; Gragnani Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:16; Gragnani Por (slashing), 11:59; Conboy Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:45; Conboy Por (game misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00.
OT Period-3, Connecticut, Redden 5 (Kennedy), 1:23 (SH).
Penalties-Williams Ct (tripping), 0:06.
Shots on Goal-Connecticut 18-7-5-1-31. Portland 4-7-5-0-16.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 5; Portland 0 / 6.
Goalies-Connecticut, Johnson 16-18-3 (16 shots-15 saves). Portland, Enroth 18-16-2 (31 shots-29 saves).
A-5,574
Referees-Terry Koharski (10).
Linesmen-Joe Andrews (32), Landon Bathe (80).
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