HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut Whale center Oren Eizenman called Sunday’s game against the AHL powerhouse Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins “a litmus test of us.”
Veteran right wing Jeremy Williams, who will be the Whale’s lone representative in the AHL All-Star Classic in two weeks, said the Penguins “are pretty much the benchmark of the league, so it will be a good measuring stick.”
The Whale measured up quite well from the outset thanks to wing Chad Kolarik, who used help from John Hynes while playing for the first-year Penguins’ coach on the 2004 U.S. Under-18 developmental team to set a franchise record for shorthanded goals in a period and tie a team record for points in a period in leading the Whale to a 6-3 victory before 5,382 at the XL Center.
“Chad was hopping in the first period,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “Obviously a team as good as that, you don’t want to be defending all night, if you don’t have to. You have to be able to counterpunch and create your own offense.”
Hynes had an up close and personal look at the multi-talented Kolarik while coaching the speedy wing on the 2004 U.S. Under-18 developmental team. But Hynes saw more than he wanted of Kolarik in the first period alone as Kolarik’s first two shorthanded goals as a pro set a franchise record for a period and tied Mike Ouellette’s record for a game. His four points in the first 20 minutes also tied a record shared by seven others for points in a period, as the Whale rebounded from being outscored 5-2 in losses to Portland and Providence on Friday and Saturday night with four goals on 10 shots in the first period, chasing Eastern Conference All-Star starting goalie Brad Thiessen.
“I know what (Kolarik) can do, and he did,” said Hynes, who received a handshake from Kolarik on the ice after the game. “He was an excellent player for me, and he was on today.”
Kolarik called Hynes “a good friend of mine.”
“We’ve kept in touch, and he’s a really nice guy,” Kolarik said. “I’m really happy for him because he climbed the ladder real quick. He got a couple breaks and has done well, so good for him.”
Hynes was plenty good for Kolarik.
“It’s funny because I’d never killed penalties before I got with him,” Kolarik said with a chuckle. “He helped me a lot with that just trying to block shots and use my speed on the (penalty kill). I have two shorties (Sunday), which is kind of ironic. But he was instrumental on me for my defensive game. It’s been hard for me to get the defensive side of my game, but he helped me with that when I was young.”
The Whale (21-16-2-5) tied their second-highest offensive output of the season as the Penguins (32-9-0-0) had a season-high, seven-game winning streak stopped. The four goals in the first period were one more than the Penguins had allowed in a period this season, and when Tim Kennedy scored into an empty net with 49 seconds left, the Penguins had yielded their most goals in a game.
“I thought Connecticut came out flying around ready to play,” said Hynes, whose team had allowed only three shorthanded goals in 40 games. “We had a couple breakdowns, and they executed right off the bat. The goals they scored were excellent goals, but we gave up some chances. Credit to them.”
Especially Kolarik.
“I had some chances Saturday (in a 3-2 loss to Providence), but I just hit (goalie Matt) Dalton’s shoulder,” Kolarik said. “We just were bearing down (Sunday) and burying the chances we had. (Friday and Saturday nights) we had some great chances, and we were a little snake-bitten and maybe not bearing down a little bit. We have a bunch of guys who can score, but it’s just the mental aspect, putting it through the net not just trying to score.”
The Penguins overcame the poor start to get to 4-3 on Geoff Walker’s rebound goal with five seconds left in the second period. But they were outshot 11-4 in the third period, and Evgeny Grachev’s second goal of the game for a 5-3 lead at 5:53 basically settled the issue, as the Penguins finished 1-for-9 on the power play.
“That fifth one is the one that did us in,” Hynes said. “We had some prime-time chances in the second period where we probably could have taken lead, hitting two pipes and having the 5-on-3 (for 46 seconds). But when they had opportunities to score, they scored, and when we had our opportunities, we didn’t put them in the net.”
Penguins defenseman Corey Potter, a fourth-round pick of the New York Rangers in 2003 who played all but eight games in his first four pro seasons with the former Hartford Wolf Pack, also knew about Kolarik’s talents. They played against each other for three years (2006-08) when Potter was at Michigan State and Kolarik at Michigan.
“They came out pretty hard and had a little more desperation than us,” said Potter, who had 21 goals and 81 assists in 246 games with the Wolf Pack. “They had just dropped two in a row, and we had come off seven (wins) in a row, so I think it just comes down to that first period. If we had come out with a little more grit and a little more desperation, I think it would have been a different story.
“And our power play has been struggling a bit all year, but we win games five-on-five, which is one of the things we try to do, stay five-on-five. Unfortunately they got a couple of shorthanded goals, which doesn’t happen too often and kind of deflated us a little bit. But we’ll just learn from it.”
Kolarik started quickly during the game’s first power play after Grachev’s delay of game penalty at 34 seconds, as he raced down left wing with Ryan Garlock on a 2-on-1 and beat Thiessen high to the far glove side at 1:49.
“I got my penalty on purpose so CK could score a goal. (Gernander) drew it up,” Grachev said with a smile.
“When you get that first goal early, it kind of sparks you,” said Kolarik, who has 13 goals and 10 assists in 26 games since being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets and Springfield Falcons for former Wolf Pack captain Dane Byers on Nov. 11. “After that goal, I felt really good, and it’s all mental. When you get it going, you have it. I had earlier in the season that one game against Springfield; it just happens.
“Sunday games are tough. With three games in three days, it’s always the team that’s up from the start, and we had a good start that helped us a lot and we got up 4-1 after the first. After that, they took it to us a little bit. They’re a good team who has guys who can really play, so they’re going to have a good run and hopefully we see them later on (in the playoffs).”
The Penguins got even only 16 seconds after Kolarik’s first goal as Dustin Jeffrey, the team’s leading scorer just returned from the Pittsburgh Penguins, raced around Whale defenseman Tomas Kundratek and passed to the right post to a wide-open Steve Wagner.
Thiessen made a brilliant save off Whale All-Star right wing Jeremy Williams during a power play at 3:51, but Kennedy found Grachev slicing through the slot for a 2-1 lead 17 seconds later.
Thiessen kept it a one-goal game when he denied Jason Williams cruising down the slot at 5:03, but Jeremy Williams made it 3-1 when he raced down left wing around Penguins captain Ryan Craig and put a wrist shot to the far corner at 5:40 for his 21st goal, tying former Wolf Pack wing Nigel Dawes of the Chicago Wolves for the AHL lead.
Then with the Penguins on their fourth power play, the period ended as it began as Kolarik took a lead pass from Garlock, raced down left wing and beat Thiessen high to the far glove side with 3.3 seconds left.
Thiessen was pulled at the end of the period after allowing four goals on 10 shots and replaced by John Curry, who was a standout at Taft School-Watertown. And before Sam Klassen’s late slashing penalty in the first period expired, the Penguins got to 4-2 as Chris Collins deflected Jeffrey’s shot past Cameron Talbot at 18 seconds of the second period.
Curry then kept the Penguins in the game at 4:18 when he stopped Kelsey Tessier, who didn’t have anyone within 15 feet of him in the slot.
The Penguins then had a 5-on-3 for 46 seconds, but Talbot made brilliant saves off Nick Johnson and Jeffrey, who also hit the post. Talbot also was alert to deny Craig’s turnaround bid during another Penguins power play, then Curry made a sliding stop off Garlock at the right post off a brilliant setup by Kolarik with 5:09 left.
But after Jeremy Williams took a roughing penalty, Geoff Walker jammed in a second round to get the Penguins to 4-3 with five seconds left in the period.
With the difference down to a goal, the teams came out a bit conservative in the third period, but the Whale regained a two-goal lead when Jeremy Williams deflected Pavel Valentenko’s shot from the point to a wide-open Grachev, who bided his time and scored his second goal of the game at 5:53. The fifth goal enabled the fans to cash in their ticket stubs for a free taco at Moe’s Southwestern Grill.
“A nice backhand-forehand that was a really big goal at the time,” Gernander said.
“We had a one-goal lead and were kind of struggling at the beginning of the third, and it gave us a little boost,” Grachev said. “I was standing in front waiting for a shot coming, and I saw (Williams) deflected it, and I was right there. I was going to go backhand first, but I thought (Curry) was going to get there, so I had to go back again, and fortunately it went in.
“I thought we played well against Providence. I had a couple chances, and other guys, too, but I don’t think we were that bad. We just needed another shot from second effort, and today they went in for us. They’re the best team in the league, so I think a lot of guys were ready for this game to see where we’re at. It was a challenge for us to get us back on track after those two losses, and I think we did.”
Curry again kept the Penguins close with strong stops on Kennedy, Devin DiDiomete and Jason Williams (on a power play), but Kennedy iced it with an empty-net goal with 49 seconds left just moments after a shot of his went just wide.
Moments after the red light went on, Kennedy looked at Kolarik and shook his head, apologizing for not setting up Kolarik for the his first hat trick with the Whale.
“I missed the first time and felt bad about (not getting Kolarik the puck),” Kennedy said.
Kolarik countered, “He felt really bad about it, but the guy jumped at him and you want to ice it. I do not care about the hat trick. I just want to get the win and worry about a hat trick later.”
Gernander also didn’t care about a hat trick, just getting two points against the AHL’s best team.
“The only thing we addressed is that we played well in a lot of stretches on Saturday night (a 3-2 loss to Providence), but good isn’t good enough when you’re desperate or have to have that sense of urgency to make sure the puck gets to the back of net instead of it just being a good scoring chance,” Gernander said.
“And Talbot really battled in the second period when we gave them way too much momentum with too many penalties. It wasn’t pretty. There a lot of scrambles and sustained pressure and times when he had to fight for vision of the puck in those types of scenarios, and I thought he really battled hard.”
Tracking the puck better is something Talbot has been working on with Rangers goaltenders coach Benoit Allaire.
“I’m pretty pleased my performance and pretty pleased with everyone’s performance,” said Talbot. “We did what we needed to do, get on the board early, got some key goals and actually chased one of the better goalies in the league out of the net in the first period, which is a tough thing to do against a team that’s really defensive, so it’s safe to say the whole team had a good game.
“They’re the No. 1 team in the league for a reason, so we knew they weren’t going to sit back and just let us hand it to them. But we did a good job of kind of weathering the storm in the second period and went into the second intermission still with the lead, which was a big thing for us. Then the guys came out strong in the third, I faced only four shots, so we did a helluva job, didn’t sit back, went right at them and finished the game strong.”
Story by Bruce Berlet of the Connecticut Whale
Comment@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.