Manchester, NH, March 18, 2011 – Dov Grumet-Morris made 25 saves for his first Connecticut Whale shutout, and Kris Newbury’s third-period goal was the only scoring in the game, in a 1-0 Whale win over the first-place Manchester Monarchs Friday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
The victory, combined with the Worcester Sharks’ 4-1 loss in Providence, moved the Whale (34-26-2-6, 76 pts.) back into sole possession of third place in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the Sharks. It was also only the Whale’s second win in their eight-game season series with the Monarchs (2-5-0-1)
The first period was evenly played, with the shots 10-9 in favor of the Whale, but Manchester goaltender Jeff Zatkoff (32 saves) was forced to shine in the second.
The Whale had 16 shots to the Monarchs eight in the second frame but were unable to solve Zatkoff, who did particularly strong work on a pair of Connecticut power plays.
Connecticut finally broke the scoreless tie at 2:47 of the third session, with Newbury getting his 15th goal of the season and his sixth in the last seven games.
Newbury led a breakout from the Whale zone, then moved to the left-wing side of the slot in the Manchester end, where he took a pass from Brodie Dupont and fired a shot that Zatkoff got a piece of with his left arm but could not stop.
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The goal extended a point streak for Newbury, the Whale’s leading point-scorer (15-38-53 in 58 games), to seven straight games (6-5-11).
The Whale start a stretch of five straight home games Saturday night at the XL Center against the Providence Bruins at 7:00 PM. Saturday will also feature the first annual “Guns and Hoses Cup”, as police and fire department personnel from numerous different Connecticut localities battle it out before the Whale-Bruins game. The police-fire game faces off at 4:30, and tickets can be purchased at CTHeroescup.com for $20, with half of that going to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Tickets for the benefit game are also good for the Whale-Bruins game, and Whale season seat-holders can receive free admission to the police-fire game by presenting their season ticket at the gate.
Connecticut Whale 1 at Manchester Monarchs 0
Friday, March 18, 2011 – Verizon Wireless Arena
Connecticut 0 0 1 – 1
Manchester 0 0 0 – 0
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Muzzin Mch (roughing), 3:58; Mitchell Ct (roughing), 17:13; Muzzin Mch (roughing), 17:13; Kolomatis Mch (hooking), 18:29.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Zeiler Mch (tripping), 3:45; Soryal Ct (roughing), 7:56; Elkins Mch (tripping), 10:27.
3rd Period-1, Connecticut, Newbury 15 (Dupont, Weise), 2:47. Penalties-Bickel Ct (fighting), 7:05; Johnson Mch (fighting), 7:05.
Shots on Goal-Connecticut 10-16-7-33. Manchester 9-8-8-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 4; Manchester 0 / 1.
Goalies-Connecticut, Grumet-Morris 8-3-1 (25 shots-25 saves). Manchester, Zatkoff 18-13-5 (33 shots-32 saves).
A-7,490
Referees-Ghislain Hebert (49).
Linesmen-Landon Bathe (80), Joe Andrews (32).
