WORCESTER, Mass. – The Connecticut Whale’s 2-0 victory over the Worcester Sharks had several special features Wednesday night.
Tim Kennedy broke a scoreless tie on a power play with 5:38 left off a brilliant goalmouth pass by Michael Del Zotto, making his minor-league debut after being assigned by the New York Rangers on Monday.
Then with the Sharks pressing for the tying goal on a power play, Kennedy lifted a clearing into center ice, where Evgeny Grachev outraced and outmuscled Matt Irwin to and puck and chipped it through Alex Stalock’s legs for his first professional shorthanded goal with 2:47 to go.
Chad Johnson then capped off the delightful start to a four-game road trip with two of his 27 saves to register a second shutout in his last five starts as the Whale (19-13-2-5) won their fifth game in six starts and have points in 16 of their last 18 games (13-2-0-3). The Whale is 3-1-0-1 in five games against the Sharks (17-13-2-4), but this was the first win in regulation and the only game of the five with Worcester decided by more than one goal.
“There was momentum back and forth the whole game and guys did a good job blocking a lot of shots and let me see the shots when there were chances,” Johnson said. “They have a lot of good players so you have to be ready because they’ll fire pucks from different angles.
“It was hard for us to get good quality chances because they’re so structured the way they play. So you don’t have a lot of opportunities, so you kind of have to make the best of it. It was a tight game, so it was a good win overall.”
It appeared the teams were headed to fourth overtime game when the Whale finally converted on their fifth power play after barely setting up in the Worcester zone on two man advantages early in the third period.
Stalock made diving save on Kennedy’s jam attempt on the second power play 3:08 into the third period, but he was helpless on the winner, the culmination of a terrific three-way play. Brodie Dupont did an excellent job getting the puck to Del Zotto in the right circle, and the 20-year-old defenseman took two strides and threw a pass to the goalmouth that Kennedy redirected into the open side of the net.
“Doobs made an unbelievable pass on his backhand, and once it came to me I knew everyone was pressuring outside,” Del Zotto said. “I took a look out of the corner of my eye first thing and saw (Kennedy) going to the net. We both kind of locked eyes, and he knew what was going on, but it all started with a great play by Dupont posting up (inside the blueline), drawing everyone and throwing the cross-ice pass. It was a great play overall.”
Kennedy concurred.
“When Brodie stopped up, I kept going down the wall and (Del Zotto) saw me coming across, and we saw each other,” Kennedy said. “I called for the puck, and he put it right on my tape. The puck kind of got tipped (by a Sharks defenseman), but it still a great pass by him and it was an open-net goal. That goal was pretty easy.
“It was a good first road game for us with what what’s ahead of us,” Kennedy added, alluding to a five-hour, after-game bus ride to Voorhees, NJ, the halfway point to Norfolk, Va., where the Whale plays Friday and Saturday night. “We weathered the storm early, came on hard in the second when we could have had a few and then got it done in the third. That’s how you have to win some games on the road. They all don’t have to be pretty.”
But Grachev gave the Whale some vital insurance with one of the prettiest goals of the season as he used his size (6-foot-4, 222 pounds) and speed to score in his sixth game since starting to help kill penalties.
“I saw one guy (Justin Braun) trying to hold the blueline and the second (Irwin) going for me,” Grachev said. “So I just protected the puck, and he (Stalock) probably thought I was going to go high, so I decided to try to smash it in low and it went in. I was lucky.”
Despite missing five injured players, including Whale killer T.J. Trevelyan, and having five players on tryout contracts in the lineup, the Sharks dominated the first 12 minutes with a dump-and-chase approach that helped produce six of the first seven shots. But Johnson made excellent stops on Andrew Desjardins off a Tomas Kundratek turnover at 48 seconds, turned aside Nick Schaus’ point shot through a screen at 1:42 and stopped Desjardins breaking in alone off the right wing at 8:11.
The Whale’s first quality chance didn’t come until Stalock (19 saves) denied Todd White’s shot from 30 feet in the slot off a 3-on-2 at 9:31. Johnson then stopped James Marcou off left wing with 4:37 left in the first period before the Whale got the game’s first power play with only four seconds to go.
Del Zotto had two excellent long-range bids kicked out by Stalock, then moments after the power play ended, Stalock made a sprawling save on Grachev, set up by Jeremy Williams at 2:01.
Johnson made a sterling right-pad save on Tommy Wingels off the right wing with 7:32 left in the period, then got his left pad on Sean Sullivan’s excellent bid from the slot during a 4-on-4 with 4:58 to go. Grachev had another quality chance on a 30-foot shot through a partial screen with 2:32 left.
The Whale had two power plays early in the third period but rarely got set up in the Sharks’ zone except when Stalock had to make a diving save on Kennedy. On an ensuing Sharks power play, Johnson was alert to stop Dan DaSilva’s deflection through a screen at 6:02, then the teams sparred before the decisive late goals.
“They came hard at the start, but we kind of weathered the storm and got stronger as the game went on,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “We were kind of stubborn at the start and didn’t want to put pucks deep and go to forecheck. We were trying to throw things cross-ice, but once we got our legs under us, I thought we got better.”
And Gernander could sense the winning goal developing.
“You could see Kennedy going to the net, and that’s generally the case when you see a play developing,” Gernander said. “He’s looking to you to get it to you, and you’re looking for him to put his stick on the ice. It’s not surprising that they made eye contact.”
<:o:p> Story by Bruce Berlet of the Connecticut Whale Comment@prohockeynews.com
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