SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The game’s venue moved 25 miles north, but the dramatic wins continued for the Connecticut Whale on Saturday night.
Not quite as dramatic as Wednesday night, but good enough for a 2-1 victory over the Springfield Falcons on defenseman Blake Parlett’s deflection of Kris Newbury’s shot with 27.5 seconds left in overtime before 6,486 at the MassMutual Center.
Newcomer John Mitchell scored the winner in a 3-2 victory over the Falcons on Wednesday night at the XL Center. In both cases, the Whale trailed entering the third period but now have won twice in 72 hours when in that situation after being 3-13-1-2 through 60 games.
Parlett, playing his seventh game with the Whale after being called up from Greenville of the ECHL, got a ceremonial puck from Brodie Dupont after he deflected Newbury’s shot from the top of the left circle between the legs of former Hartford Wolf Pack goalie David LeNeveu for his first AHL point and first overtime winner anywhere.
“Anytime there’s a quick transition four-on-four, I try to look to join the rush,” said Parlett, who was leading ECHL defensemen in scoring (31 points) when he was called up. “It so happened that Brodie had the puck, and I was the second guy on the rush so I drove the net. Newbury had a nice shot on net, and I was lucky to get my stick on it.
“That’s two big comebacks. I thought we had real good third periods in both games. Those are big two points, and we gain another point on (the Falcons), so we’re going forward. We’ve come back quite a lot since I’ve been here, so that’s nice. … I had two winners in regulation in Greenville, but it’s a nice feeling, good way to get my first (in the AHL). I’m just trying to make good first passes, get better each game and chip in when I can.”
Newbury, back from his fourth stint with the parent New York Rangers, scored the Whale’s first goal with 6:31 left in regulation when he beat LeNeveu to the glove side after a Falcons’ clearing attempt ricocheted off Dale Weise’s ear, and then spotted Parlett driving to the net for the winner.
“I didn’t know how much time was left, so I thought if I put it to the net there might be a rebound or whatnot,” Newbury said. “But (Parlett) made a great play and tipped it in. Nice way to get your first (AHL) goal.”
The victory enabled the Whale (30-24-2-6) to remain tied for the third and final guaranteed playoff berth in the Atlantic Division with Worcester (28-22-4-8), which beat Charlotte 2-0 behind Daren Machesney’s 34 saves Saturday night and hosts the Whale on Sunday at 3 p.m. The second successive tough loss for the Falcons (30-29-1-3) dropped them three points behind the Whale and Sharks.
The Whale prevailed again despite being without eight regulars, including leading scorer and All-Star right wing Jeremy Williams, who missed his first game of the season with an injury sustained Wednesday night when hit by Kyle Neuber late in the first period.
“We’ve talked about it all season long,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “When you’re missing players and you’re short of bodies, there are opportunities for others, and you have to make the most of it. We did a real good job at the start of the third period grinding it out down low. I don’t think they gave up a lot defensively, but we had pretty good possession and continued to put pucks to the net. (The winning goal) was a real good play all around.
“They’re a good defensive club, and if we were going to get anything, we were going to have to work for it. Sometimes you don’t always get rewarded for all your hard work, but you don’t panic or change things too much until it comes down to the last minute and a half when you might get a little risky. But I thought the guys did a real good job of staying with things and really grinding it out.”
And Dov Grumet-Morris gave the Whale a chance for another stirring win when he made the best of his 19 saves off David Savard and Maksim Mayorov at 2:12 and 2:18 of overtime.
“I think it’s indicative of the team doing so well defensively throughout the whole game that you can point only two or three saves as those were the hardest or only challenging ones,” said Grumet-Morris, who signed an AHL contract on Wednesday. “They had some chances, but the ice was kind of warm so the puck was bouncing a lot on guys and they weren’t able to get an opportunity to score. Additionally, we’re in a playoff race, so both teams are playing defensive.
“I can’t stress enough how well the team is doing defensively the last few games. When our defenseman is protecting the middle and only allowing a wide shot, it means you can read the play a little better and better position yourself for the second shot. My goalie coach in college always used to always say that goaltending is a game of billiards; you’re always setting yourself up for the next shot at the higher level. Everyone can make the first save, so you have to catch yourself for a second shot or a perfect pass. That’s one thing that I’m trying to be cognizant of and that’s one of the things that (Rangers goaltending coach) Benoit Allaire stresses as well.”
The Whale had a wide territorial advantage in the first period, not allowing a shot until Tomas Kana’s 30-footer from the slot with 3:25 left. The Whale had seven shots by then, but David LeNeveu (25 saves) had four good stops, notably two on Derek Couture, one when he was alone in front with 8:15 to go in the period.
The Whale allowed only two shots in the period, tying their season low, but the Falcons got their first power play with 16 seconds left and took advantage as Trevor Smith’s blind back pass through the slot found a wide-open Brent Regner sneaking in off the point for an easy finish into an open net at 49 seconds of the second period.
The Falcons nearly doubled their lead on their second power play, but Grumet-Morris denied Regner from point-blank range at 8:08.
The Whale’s Dale Weise won a unanimous decision over Regner with 4:46 left in the period, and then LeNeveu stopped Evgeny Grachev’s partial breakaway with 2:49 to go that drew a slashing penalty on Nick Holden. The Whale finally applied some pressure with a man advantage, but LeNeveu did a split to get his left pad on Wade Redden’s 40-foot shot from the slot with 1:41 left.
The Whale caught a break early in the third period as a wide-open Mayorov shot wide while falling to the ice at the right post. They then missed a good chance to tie when a wide-open Justin Soryal semi-fanned on a centering pass by Francis Lemieux at 6:01.
The Whale then picked up their cycling and nearly tied it with 9:02 left, but LeNeveu made bang-bang stops on Weise and Parlett. The Whale continued to press and finally got even thanks to the carom off the ear of Weise, who was headed off the ice when Newbury tied it, giving the Whale 10 of the first 11 shots in the third period and a 22-10 advantage in the game.
“The puck went up in the air (off Weise), so I figured I’d catch it, try to turn and shoot it as quick as I can,” Newbury said. “The puck rolled up on my stick, and I think I kind of fooled the goalie a bit and it ended up going in.”
The Falcons then took their first real impetus of the game for the remainder of regulation and overtime, but after Grumet-Morris robbed Savard and Mayorov, the Whale gained another dramatic decision.
“It’s good that we can come back, but you’d rather play with the lead,” Newbury said. “That puts less pressure on you, but we seem to be doing a good job when trailing going into the third. But we hopefully can change that around, keep going and hopefully keep
Comment@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.