HARTFORD, Conn. – The Connecticut Whale had been living on the edge the past few weeks, needing strong finishes to compensate for sluggish starts while winning nine of 11 games, four when trailing after two periods.
The Whale erased the unwanted slow-start trend Friday night and then pulled a Harry Houdini to beat the Charlotte Checkers 3-2 on Evgeny Grachev’s first shootout goal in the fifth and final round before 5,862 at the XL Center.
Veteran Justin Pogge, subbing for injured Mike Murphy, appeared on the way to his first shutout of the season before critical faceoff wins by former Toronto Marlies teammates Kris Newbury and John Mitchell led to long-range goals by defensemen Pavel Valentenko and Stu Bickel 73 seconds apart in the final 2:21 of regulation.
Then after Dov Grumet-Morris (29 saves) made SportsCenter-worthy stops on Nick Dodge, former Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman Bryan Rodney and Zac Dalpe in the final 52 seconds of overtime, Mitchell and Grachev scored in the skills competition as the Whale (38-26-2-6) improved to 8-21-0-2 when trailing after the second period, with three of those wins coming in the last four games.
“We tried to stay positive and not get frustrated,” Grachev said. “We had our chances in the first two periods but had some bad bounces and missed nets. But we knew if we kept doing the right thing – working down low, putting pucks to the net and drive the net – good things would happen. Finally our defensemen got hot with two strikes from the blue line, and it’s so good to make such a big comeback against such a good team. To win in the shootout is a good win for us and now we have to keep rolling.”
Murphy had excelled as the Checkers beat the Whale 5-1 and 1-0 in Charlotte on Feb. 24 and 26, and Pogge continued to frustrate the Whale until Newbury won a faceoff from Jacob Micflikier to Blake Parlett, who passed to his right to Valentenko for a one-timer that beat Pogge high to the glove side with 2:21 left to end a scoring drought against the Checkers of 123:45.
“I’m always trying to shoot like that, but sometimes I’m wide,” Valentenko said. “I switched sides (with Parlett) and shot 80 percent. I’m looking to be quicker with my shot, but I was concentrating more on hitting the net. It finally worked.”
After Grumet-Morris was pulled for a sixth attacker, Mitchell won a faceoff from Jon Matsumoto to Wade Redden, who again passed right to Bickel for a one-timer that again beat Pogge high to the glove side with 1:08 to go.
“All game that lane was open for us, and I just tried to get tight into Reds so I could get off the one-timer,” Bickel said. “I just looked at the lane where I could get the puck thought to the net. We knew what we wanted to do off the draw, and it worked out. When you’re not scoring a ton, you look at where you’re shooting and maybe try to change things up, but from the point, you’re mostly looking for the lane to get it through. If you see a corner, you’re obviously going to shoot there, but you’re not so much trying to pick a corner as you are trying to the puck through on net.”
Williams said the Whale followed the script needed against the 6-foot-3 Pogge.
“He’s a really good goalie who could have been in the NHL when he was younger, but when he got the opportunity (with the Toronto Maple Leafs), he unfortunately didn’t have much of a team in front of him,” Williams said. “He’s big, so the only way you’re going to score on him is if he can’t see the puck.”
Grachev, who was unable to convert on a 2-on-1 with 19 seconds left in overtime, gave the Whale the improbable victory, their fifth in a row and a six-point lead over Worcester, a 4-2 loser to Providence, in the battle for the third and final guaranteed playoff berth in the Atlantic Division. They also remained one point in front of Binghamton (38-27-3-4), a 3-0 winner over Wilkes-Barre Scranton and fifth in the East Division in the fight for a possible crossover playoff berth. The crossover rule says the top four teams in the East Division and the top three in the Atlantic Division qualify for the playoffs, and the conference’s eighth and final spot will go to whichever has more points between the East’s fifth-place team and the Atlantic’s fourth-place club.
“(Pogge) is a big guy, and I was looking between the pad and blocker,” Grachev said. “I haven’t been getting a lot of opportunities (in shootouts), but maybe I’ll get more now.”
When asked about fellow Russian Valentenko’s goal, Grachev smiled and said, “He’s got a bomb. If it’s not going in, he’s going to hurt somebody or break somebody’s stick. The set play we had didn’t work for us this year. Maybe we didn’t try it enough. Maybe we didn’t get those clean draws. But Newber and Mitchell won draws, and we got two good goals.”
Grumet-Morris extended his AHL career-high winning streak to seven games as the Whale finished 2-2 against the first-year Checkers (39-25-3-6), their former ECHL affiliate.
“They played a great game and trapped very well,” Grumet-Morris said. “Until 2:21 was left, we had only one goal in nearly three games, which tells you how good their goaltending and defensive scheme is. Obviously our defensemen came up big after our centers won their two big draws, and then we deserved to win the shootout.”
Grumet-Morris tried to downplay his excellence at the end of regulation and in the shootout.
“Some goalie coaches say if you’re stretching like that you’re out of position, but I’ll take the saves, I guess,” he said. “But I’m just very happy that we were able to come through in the shootout. That’s what really impressed me. I thought Pogge did really good in the shootout but just got unlucky. He had a great game and deserved to win just as much as me.
“Certainly we were excited to win. It was a big point, and to get the second point in the shootout was really big. I know it’s a cliché, but those points are important right now. We were as excited about winning the game as we were about getting those points, and our playoffs hopes ride on that.”
Bickel gave Grumet-Morris props when he said, “He’s a good goalie and exciting to watch because he battles. And you really appreciate that from your teammates. It gets you fired up and your adrenaline going.”
The Whale finally had a good first period, outshooting the Checkers 12-5, which were four more shots than they had in the opening 20 minutes of the previous two games combined. But they again ran into another hot Checkers goalie, as Pogge made good blocker saves on Dale Weise during the Whale’s first power play and Williams and a good glove save on Mitchell.
The Whale also failed on two power plays, including a 5-on-3 for 40 seconds. With Brad Herauf in the penalty box for boarding, Nicolas Blanchard was called for goaltender interference, though it was Redden who was nudged into Dov Grumet-Morris and sent the goalie sprawling. Trainer Damien Hess came out to attend to Grumet-Morris, who needed several minutes to clear his head and continue. He also made good stops off Matthew Pistilli at 2:16 and Micflikier with 7:49 left in the period.
Grumet-Morris denied Cedric McNicoll from 30 feet in the slot at 3:08 of the second period, but the Checkers took the lead 22 seconds later. Herauf took the puck from Redden along the right boards, skated into the circle, used defenseman Jared Nightingale as a partial screen and beat Grumet-Morris to the far stick side for his third goal of the season.
Pogge then made a good chest stop on Derek Couture from 25 feet in the slot at 7:20 and denied Grachev from the left circle at 9:38. Three minutes later, Bickel dove and poked the puck from McNicoll on his breakaway bid.
Pogge stopped Mitchell’s backhander from in front with 4:29 left in the period, but the Checkers took a 2-0 lead when Zach FitzGerald cleared the puck from behind his net along the right-wing boards, where it was missed by Dalpe and Valentenko. Zack Boychuk took advantage, grabbed the puck in the neutral zone, broke down the right wing and fired a shot from the top of the circle that hit off Grumet-Morris’ stick and trickled through his legs and into the net with 25 seconds left for Boychuk’s 20th goal.
The Checkers nearly made it 3-0 at 2:34 of the third period, but Chris Terry hit the post. Then at 6:23, the Checkers broke in 2-on-1, with Grumet-Morris making a strong stop on Terry before Matsumoto had a goal disallowed for kicking the rebound into the net.
Pogge made another big save off Kris Newbury at 6:23, and on the counter attack, Grumet-Morris sprawled to deny Boychuk on a 2-on-1.
Then came the magical end to regulation, Grumet-Morris’ brilliance in overtime and the clutch shots by Mitchell and Grachev in the shootout.
“It’s a critical time of year with two big points every night,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “They play a good, sound defensive game and wait for their offensive opportunities and are pretty good at capitalizing because they have some pretty skilled forwards. We certainly feel fortunate because they’re a very strong defensive team, but it came down to two pretty good point shots.”
Comment@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.