HARTFORD, Conn – Mission accomplished.
That’s the consensus of left wing Wojtek Wolski and defenseman Jeff Woywitka after playing six games in 10 days with the Connecticut Whale in two-week conditioning assignments from the New York Rangers. The stints don’t officially end until Wednesday, but the Whale don’t play again until Friday night at home against the Springfield Falcons.
Wolski, Woywitka and center Casey Wellman, who also joined the Whale on Feb. 2 after being acquired from the Minnesota Wild for Erik Christensen and a conditional seventh-round pick in 2013, have helped the team earn 11 of 12 points in February after an 11-game winless streak (0-6-3-2) in January and reclaim first place in the Northeast Division. The only blemish was a 2-1 overtime loss Sunday to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (25-18-3-2), the AHL’s hottest team with a 13-1-0-1 record in 2012. The Sound Tigers, coached by former Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman Brent Thompson, momentarily moved from last to first as the Whale (24-16-5-5) struggled last month, but they’re now three points behind with two games in hand.
Wolski and Woywitka got more ice time in six games than they had at any time in four months with the Rangers. Much of their lack of playing time on Broadway was the result of injuries, but Whale coach Ken Gernander and assistants J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller used them plenty in all situations.
“They were obviously a good boost to our lineup, and two guys who bring different elements,” Gernander said Sunday. “Wolski is a skilled guy who can create some offense and get some points and scored a few goals. And Jeff played sound on the back end. He’s a bigger body (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) that can finish checks and move pucks. They’re both obviously very good caliber players and were good additions to our squad.
“They were here to get playing ‘experience,’ not that there’s a lack of experience on either guy. But like anything, you have to be playing in those situations to stay in shape. They definitely got plenty of ice time, and it’s probably the first time Wolski played three (games) in three (days).”
Wolski, 25, said he thought he had achieved what he wanted as far as getting plenty of playing time and improving his conditioning. Wolski, who is in the final year of a two-year, $7.6 million deal signed with the Phoenix Coyotes on June 28, 2010, had played in only nine games with the Rangers and was a healthy scratch the previous six since Jan. 15 after playing just three games following a return from sports hernia surgery on Nov. 8.
Wolski, acquired from the Coyotes for defenseman Michal Rozsival on Jan. 10, 2011, had two winners among his three goals and one of his two assists set up the Whale’s only goal Sunday by Kelsey Tessier. He had three assists in the nine games with the Rangers.
“I started to feel better each game,” said Wolski, who played with veteran center Kris Newbury and All-Star Mats Zuccarello. “It was great to get more minutes and just feel the puck and kind of see the ice a little better. The three in three is obviously tough, and the last game is exhausting. You have to give credit to the guys because it’s definitely not easy, but we played well and got 11 of 12 points, which is nice. My stickhandling is getting where it was, and my skating is starting to pick up a little bit. Overall, I’m happy that I had the opportunity to come down, feel like I’m getting back to where I feel I should be and want to build on it from here.”
Wolski said conditioning was the biggest perk he got from his first minor-league stint since he turned pro after four seasons with Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League that was capped by 47 goals and 81 assists in 56 regular-season games and seven goals and 11 assists in 11 playoff games in 2005-06.
“Being out for the longest I’ve ever been off the ice is tough, but it’s something you have to deal with because injuries happen,” said Wolski, who has 91 goals and 158 assists in 402 NHL games with the Colorado Avalanche, Coyotes and Rangers. “I had surgery and was out for a long time, and even before that, I had problems with my groin and wasn’t feeling the way I should. So it’s good to start building back to where I feel I should be. (Saturday) night was a pretty good game where I had the puck a lot and created a lot of opportunities (in a 4-1 win at Manchester), which was positive. (Sunday) was just a tough game with three in three. It’s a first since I was a kid when I used to play a ton of three in three. Now I want to get back to where I want to be.”
That’s the NHL, and there might be a spot with the Rangers after wing Ruslan Fedotenko missed games against the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals on Saturday and Sunday after he was hit in the head by his stick when former Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack forward Dominic Moore put a shoulder into him in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. After the Rangers’ 3-2 victory over Washington, Coach John Tortorella said Fedotenko likely would travel with the team to Boston for a game Tuesday night against the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins, who have fallen seven points behind the surging Blueshirts in the Eastern Conference with one game in hand.
Woywitka, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 6 and got consistent playing time on the Rangers’ third pairing, until he was injured in a 3-2 victory over the Coyotes on Dec. 17. Before joining the Whale, Woywitka had missed 17 of the previous 19 games, including the last 13 since a 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Dec. 30.
But Woywitka, a first-round pick (27th overall) of the Flyers in 2001, also got oodles of ice time with the Whale and was bent over at the end of the regulation Sunday.
“It was good, and I thought as a team we played pretty well, other than maybe (Sunday) when we maybe looked a little fatigued,” said Woywitka, who had three assists while paired mostly with Blake Parlett. “But that’s obviously no excuse. We weren’t maybe as sharp as we should have been, but I guess if you go on the road and get a point out of a three in three, there’s worse things that happen, too. So all in all, we battled hard, and we know they’re a hard-working team. They came hard at us, and it was a good game, but we came out on the bottom end.”
The Whale might not have gotten a point if Chad Johnson didn’t stop Scott Howes’ penalty shot with 2:20 left in regulation after the Sound Tigers’ wing was hooked from behind on a breakaway by Sam Klassen. Johnson, who stopped 180 of 189 shots in the Whale’s 5-0-0-1 turnaround this month, denied Howes’ backhand bid but was screened before David Ullstrom’s 50-foot shot hit the crossbar and went in 37 seconds into overtime. The Whale asked referee Jon McIsaac for a video replay available as a test at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard, and after a five-minute delay cueing up the video, he confirmed the goal good again.
“It was a lot of hockey, a lot of travel (with three road games), and it’s still hard when you’re playing (so many) minutes,” Woywitka said. “You’re always getting hit, you’re always taking hits, and you could feel everybody was feeling it a little bit (Sunday). It’s something you have to battle through and get used to, but we’ll take the point and move on.”
Woywitka also hopes to “move on” to the NHL, where he has nine goals and 46 assists in 277 games with the St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and Rangers, including one goal and five assists in 26 games with the Blueshirts this season. He called his first minor-league stint since playing seven games for the Peoria Rivermen in the 2008-09 season a “good experience.”
“The first couple of games, you have to get used to it again, get the routine going again, making plays, thinking again,” Woywitka said. “Getting into game action was good, and coming down here and contributing and helping the guys get wins and good goaltending … Everything kind of falls into place and everybody is happy and everybody comes to the rink with excitement, and that made it a lot easier in getting comfortable and getting established here.”
Did Woywitka get what he wanted out of the six games?
“Absolutely,” he said. “The main thing is winning hockey games, wherever you are. It’s the main goal and what we’re here for.”
Woywitka is also taking a wait-and-see attitude with the Rangers, who already have seven healthy defensemen, including Steve Eminger, who returned Saturday after being out with a separated shoulder since Dec. 17.
“I don’t control anything,” Woywitka said. “We just come and play, and hopefully I get another opportunity so we’ll just have to see what happens. I’ll just come to the rink every day and work hard. I want to get to the next level, which is why we’re down here because we obviously have got to be better and have to find a way to get back up there. I have to wait and see what happens and see what (the Rangers) tell me.”
Fortunately for the Whale, defensemen Wade Redden and Pavel Valentenko are close to returning. Redden has missed 22 games since being injured in a 2-1 shootout loss to Providence on Dec. 17. Valentenko has sat out seven games with an injury sustained in a 3-2 overtime loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 27. But he has had some relief already with wife Ekaterina giving birth of the couple’s first child, 8-pound, 6-pound Polina, last Tuesday.
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