HARTFORD, Conn. – The Connecticut Whale should have known they were in trouble when Brandon Kozun scored the first goal of the game Sunday at the XL Center.
After all, the Atlantic Division-leading Manchester Monarchs were 14-0-0-1 when they scored first, and the trend didn’t end on the second day of the New Year thanks largely to goalie Martin Jones.
Jones, an unrestricted free agent signed by the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 2, 2008, made 39 saves for his second shutout of the season as the Monarchs cooled off the AHL’s hottest team with a 3-0 victory before 4,367.
Former Yale forward David Meckler and Richard Clune helped set each other up in the third period, when the Monarchs (24-12-1-1) assured they would make amends for a 3-1 loss at Springfield on Saturday night that ended a season-high, six-game winning streak. The victory increased the Monarchs’ lead over the second-place Whale to seven points and handed goalie Chad Johnson (17 saves, 12-11-1-3) only his second non-shootout loss in 13 decisions (9-2-2).
The Whale’s 39 shots tied the fifth most stopped in 52 shutouts against in the franchise’s 14-year history as the Monarchs ended the Whale’s four-game winning streak. That capped a 12-1-0-2 run that had put the Whale six games above .500 for the first time this season and vaulted them from last place into second, two points ahead of Portland, which lost 3-2 to Worcester and has four games in hand.
The Whale (18-13-2-5) outshot the Monarchs 39-20, but it wasn’t enough to extend an 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-0-2) against division teams and earn a point for a 16th time in 17 games (12-1-0-3). The Whale also had been 12-1-0-2 since rebranded from the Hartford Wolf Pack to the Whale on Nov. 27, but now they’re 1-4-0-1 against the Monarchs this season.
“They’ve been playing extremely well lately, and we knew that coming in,” said Jones (13-2-0-0, 1.60 goals-against average, tied for first in the AHL, and .948 save percentage, second in the league). “We weren’t entirely happy with our performance (Saturday) night, and that was a big bounce-back performance for us.
“Obviously we jumped into the lead in the first period, and they were getting more and more desperate as the game went on,” added Jones, who turns 21 in a week, has won six in a row and is 4-0 against the Whale this season. “We were outshot, but I don’t think we played poorly. We were controlled in our own zone, composed and stuck to our structure. A lot of those shots are saves that I should be making, so I thought we did a great job in our zone coverage-wise.
“I don’t think we had too many breakdowns where they got grade-A scoring chances. I felt good and was able to make a couple of saves I needed to make, and I thought my team did the rest defensively.”
Jones, though, was easily the game’s No. 1 star and the reason the Whale suffered their first regulation loss at home since their second of four shutout losses this season, 4-0 to Toronto on Nov. 9. Since then, they had been 8-0-0-1 at the XL Center after starting 2-6-2-0.
Whale left wing Brodie Dupont, playing after needing three stitches to close a cut near his right eye sustained in a 6-2 victory over Providence on Saturday night, has known of Jones’ talents since they played together with the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League. Jones also backstopped Canada to a silver medal in the World Junior Championships last year when Team USA won the gold.
“At some point, you have to give credit where credit is due,” said Dupont, who scored the first goal Saturday before being injured with 3:20 left and had five shots Sunday along with Kris Newbury and Jeremy Williams and one less than Todd White. “After playing with him in juniors, I figured I’d be able to pick his old weak spots, but he challenged a lot more than he used to. I had a few opportunities that I would have liked to put away, but it didn’t happen for me or anybody.
“I think everybody got a little frustrated, but Jones played a great game. When you fire 39 shots at somebody and don’t score, the goalie has to be playing good. He put a door up and slammed it shut. We threw everything we had at him, and he played well. We just have to find a way to beat those goalies whether it’s rebounds or net-front presence or whatever it might take. But it was one of those nights that happen. You play an 80-game schedule, so you’re going to run into a hot goalie eventually.
“But we’re taking a lot of positives out of that game. It would have been nice to win because they were only five points up on us and we were closing the gap on them pretty good so it was kind of a four-point game for us. But we’re not quite at the halfway point, and they know we’re coming and we feel confident. We’re not going to let this set us back. We’re just going to keep moving forward and take the positives out of it.”
Dupont felt the Whale controlled a lot of the play, and the Monarchs scored the winner off a broken play on a power play that didn’t deflate the team. Ditto after the second goal, but the third was “the nail in the coffin.”
“But he knows where I’m coming from, so I’ll get him,” Dupont added with a smile “And you can put that in the paper, too.”
Whale coach Ken Gernander also conceded Jones was at the top of his game but wished his team hadn’t taken a few bad penalties and been better defensively, forechecking and physically as they had in their recent excellence.
“We did generate 39 shots and didn’t give up a world of opportunities, but there’s a pretty small difference between winning and losing,” Gernander said. “We had some real good chances where we didn’t make great shots. That’s not to take anything away from the goalie because he made some big saves, but I thought there were chances where we weren’t sharp as far as shooting.
“And I don’t think we had as many second and third opportunities as we needed, and (Jones) probably saw all of the shots, too. We need bodies net-front and tips and screens and those kinds of things. Goalies are good, and if they get to see (a shot), they a lot of times make the save. I sensed the guys getting frustrated, which is something we can be better at. For a long part of the night, it was a one-goal game, so if you get frustrated, it’s counterproductive a lot of times.”
Both sides, especially the Whale, had ample scoring chances in the first 40 minutes but converted only once. Dupont had a good rebound chance just after the opening faceoff, then the Monarchs’ Jordan Nolan hit the post off a left wing rush at 6:22.
After Johnson made good saves off Dwight King and Corey Elkins on Manchester’s first power play, the Monarchs took the lead for good when King passed across the crease to a wide-open Kozun, who one-timed a shot into an open net from the left circle at 8:48.
Jones made a stellar stop on Jeremy Williams’ left-circle shot with 7:37 left in the period during the Whale’s first power play. Jones then made three more strong saves in a 21/2-minute span, stopping White off a pass from Jason Williams, Evgeny Grachev’s partial breakaway off Tim Kennedy’s soft lead pass and Jason Williams’ breakaway off a White pass after Elkins’ turnover.
Johnson denied Thomas Hickey cruising down the slot shorthanded 1:21 into the second period, then 20 seconds later, Hickey put a shot off the crossbar, though Gernander agreed with replays that showed the shot went in and out of the net.
The Whale had three more good scoring bids in the final 8:06 of the period, but Jones denied Kelsey Tessier off right wing and Dupont on a 2-on-1 with Newbury sandwiched around White putting a shot off the side of the net off a 3-on-1.
The Whale nearly tied it shorthanded 3:24 into the third period, but referee Chris Cozzan ruled the net was dislodged before Dupont jammed in the puck off a 3-on-2.
Given that reprieve, the Monarchs took a 2-0 lead as Clune poked the puck to Meckler, who flipped a shot past Johnson at 6:05 for his team-leading 11th goal. After Jones stopped a three-shot Whale flurry capped by Jeremy Williams’ excellent bid with 8:15 left, the Monarchs clinched the win as Meckler picked up his blocked shot and flipped a backhand, diagonal pass to a wide-open Clune, who redirected the puck high to Johnson’s stick side with 6:31 to go.
“The guys rebounded well,” said Monarchs coach Mark Morris, whose captain at Clarkson was White. “It was a textbook road win. Everybody contributed. There was good focus and execution throughout most of the game.”
Story by Bruce Berlet of the Connecticut Whale Comment@prohockeynews.com
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