HARTFORD, Conn. – After a commendable four-week stretch in which they earned 17 of a possible 24 points while playing 10 of 12 games on the road and another at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, the Connecticut Whale’s major objective Friday night was to start improving their work and results at the XL Center.
Winning seven of 10 starts away from home in the most demanding stretch of the season pleased coach Ken Gernander, but playing better than .500 at home in 10 of their remaining 16 games was paramount if the Whale was to return to the Calder Cup playoffs after missing for the first time in their 14-year history last season.
But after scoring 14 goals in the previous three games, the Whale lost 2-1 to the Hershey Bears, as veteran center Brian Willsie scored the winner and assisted on Kyle Greentree’s goal before 5,819.
“The start was pretty important, and it wasn’t what I expected,” Gernander said.
“We just didn’t play our game,” said center Kris Newbury, who scored the Whale’s goal but took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with 1:49 left and his team on a power play. “We just didn’t work hard enough, and that’s basically what it came down to. We had a good third period, and I think we could have put more pucks on net when we had some chances in the first two periods. But you’re not going to beat a team like when you only play one period.”
The injury-riddled and shorthanded Whale (32-25-2-6) had won four in a row, had a standings point in nine of 11 games (8-2-0-1) and was 8-3-0-1 in the most demanding stretch of the season from Feb. 9 to Tuesday night. That included 7-3-0-0 on the road as they reached their high-water mark this season of eight games over .500 while playing the previous three games a man shy of the 18-skater limit because eight players were ailing.
But Friday’s loss dropped the Whale into a third-place tie with the Worcester Sharks (30-23-4-8), a 3-1 winner over the Atlantic Division-leading Manchester Monarchs, in the battle for the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the division. The Sharks are at the XL Center on Saturday night for the start of a home-and-home set with the Whale, who remained within one point of the Binghamton Senators (33-25-3-4), the fifth-place team in the East Division who lost 8-3 at Norfolk on Friday night.
The two-time defending champion Bears (39-22-2-4), who were missing three key injured players, ended a three-game pointless streak. They extended their point streak when leading after two periods to 28-0-0-3 and swept the season series, having won the first meeting with the then Hartford Wolf Pack, 4-3 in Hershey on Nov. 21.
And despite more energetic play, the Whale were limited to three shots in the third period, matching their low for any period this season.
“They do a good job of not giving you a lot,” Whale veteran defenseman Wade Redden said. “They have numbers back in the neutral zone and kind of make you get it in and work for it, and I don’t think we did that enough to put pressure on them and create some chances. They don’t give you anything easy, so you have to go in and get it back. It’s tough to create against those teams, but you have to find a way.”
The Whale had a golden opportunity to take an early lead at 5:29, but veteran Nolan Schaefer (23 saves) made bang-bang stops on rebound bids by Francis Lemieux and Kelsey Tessier off Derek Couture’s shot. Cam Talbot (22 saves) then kept it scoreless when he stopped David de Kastrozza’s breakaway at 7:15 and NHL veteran defenseman Sheldon Souray breaking in off the left point at 9:07.
But the Bears took the lead for good after Willsie won the ensuing faceoff from Newbury. Andrew Kozek tipped the puck into the slot to Greentree, who maneuvered between Whale defensemen Pavel Valentenko and Blake Parlett and beat Talbot between the legs from 25 feet at 9:11.
With the Bears on their second power play, Talbot (20 saves) kept the Whale close when he denied Willsie alone in the slot with 1:26 left in the period. Schaefer then made a brilliant glove stab off Redden as he cruised down the slot with 13.7 seconds to go.
Schaefer again kept Hershey ahead with a sprawling save on Tessier’s backhander at 6:40 of the second period. As often happens, the Bears took a 2-0 lead only 69 seconds later as Greentree found Willsie at the far blueline, and the crafty center got behind Redden, skated into the right circle and beat Talbot to the far corner for his team-leading 26th goal.
“It was a bad change,” Redden said. “We kind of got mixed up.”
The Whale’s only serious threat the rest of the period came when Newbury found Brodie Dupont cruising through the slot, but Schaefer again made an alert save with 5:26 left.
After shuffling their lines and defensive pairings for the third period, the Whale immediately showed more energy and got to 2-1 on a quick counterattack. Ryan Garlock, back after missing four games with an injury and moved from center to wing at the start of the third period, broke down the left side and passed across the ice to Chad Kolarik, who had missed nine games with an injury. Kolarik then skated into the right circle, found Newbury breaking down the slot and the Whale’s leading scorer got inside Bears defenseman Dmitry Orlov and put a backhander between Schaefer’s legs at 5:36 for his 13th goal and 49th point.
“(Garlock) made a heck of a pass to Kolarik, who made a nice pass to me,” Newbury said. “I just wanted to get it on net, and it went five-hole, so we’ll take those.”
The Whale nearly tied it at 7:59, but Schaefer came out to deny Grachev breaking in off the left wing. Then after a Jared Nightingale turnover, Talbot kept it a one-goal game when he stopped Ashton Rome’s shot from the left circle and Maxime Lacroix’s rebound bid at 9:08.
The Whale got a power play when Mathieu Perrault was called for slashing with 2:30 left, but that was negated when Newbury got the unsportsmanlike penalty for shooting the puck on net after the whistle had sounded.
The Whale pulled Talbot for an extra attacker with 1:33 left but failed to get a shot, with Willsie, the game’s No. 1 star, blocking Parlett’s final bid from the left point with three seconds to go.
“I thought we played better in the last period, but you don’t get rewarded for one period of play,” Gernander said. “I don’t think we finished enough checks, I don’t think we won enough battles for pucks and I don’t think we challenged enough wide on entry (into the offensive zone).
“I thought (Schaefer) had a pretty good glove. We had some opportunities, but I still think we could have done more to generate and create more ourselves. Quite honestly, a lot of chances he saw, and there wasn’t enough second and third opportunities.”
The Whale is 19-11-0-4 on the road but fell to 13-14-2-2 at the XL Center with nine of their last 15 games at home, starting Saturday night the critical matchup with the Sharks.
“We’d like to have an identity at home to make this a terrible place for a visiting team to come in and play, and now we’re back to one game below .500,” Gernander said.
“It’s frustrating because you obviously want to do well in your home rink,” Redden said. “I don’t think it’s an issue. We have more games at home left than on the road, so we definitely have to be a lot better here.”
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