Syracuse, NY, February 24, 2013 – Cedrick Desjardins made 28 saves to get the shutout, and Tyler Johnson scored twice, as the Syracuse Crunch defeated the Connecticut Whale 4-0 Sunday at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter.

It was the second consecutive shutout for Desjardins, and his second in three games since he joined the Crunch in a trade.  Pierre-Cedric Labrie and J.T. Wyman also scored for Syracuse, which was 2/5 on the power play.  Ondrej Palat had three assists and Mark Barberio had two helpers.

Cam Talbot made 34 saves in the Whale net.  The Whale played two skaters short of the normal roster limit of 18, after defenseman Blake Parlett was injured in Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

“I thought we gave a pretty honest effort,” Whale head coach Ken Gernander said.  “The first goal was a little bit tough to take, an unfortunate bounce, and then we had a couple of individual breakdowns on some penalty-kill situations.  I thought the score wasn’t necessarily indicative of the game.  I thought we had some chances and that we carried the play for stretches of time.”

The Crunch built a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Labrie and Johnson.

Labrie opened the scoring at 9:11, after Whale defenseman Sean Collins didn’t see a loose puck near his own goalmouth.  Vlad Namestnikov fed it to Labrie, who moved right to left across the slot and fired a shot past the stick side of Talbot.

Johnson then tallied his AHL-leading 27^th of the year on the game’s first power play at 14:29.  With Logan Pyett in the penalty box for holding, Johnson took a cross-slot feed from Palat at the left side of the goalmouth and got a low, hard shot past Talbot.

The only goal of the second period also came off of Johnson’s stick, on another power play at 18:16.  Barberio found Johnson in the left circle and Johnson had time to wind up for a shot, beating Talbot on the glove side.

Wyman completed the scoring at 7:34 of the third period, after the Whale misplayed an exchange of the puck just inside the Crunch blue line.  Palat carried the puck into the Connecticut zone and dished to Wyman, who deflected it just underneath the pads of a sliding Talbot.

The loss dropped the Whale to 25-23-5-2 on the year.  With 57 points, the Whale continue to hold down the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Worcester.

The Whale’s next action is on home ice, this Friday, March 1 against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:00 PM.  As at all Friday-night Whale home games, fans that night can enjoy $1 hot dogs and $2 beers at the XL Center until the end of the first intermission.

For all Whale home games, tickets start as low as $10 each ($12 each when tickets are purchased on the day of the game), at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, through TicketMaster Charge-by-Phone at 1-800-745-3000 and on-line at www.ticketmaster.com.

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Connecticut Whale 0 at Syracuse Crunch 4
Sunday, February 24, 2013 – Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter

Connecticut 0 0 0 – 0
Syracuse 2 1 1 – 4

1st Period-1, Syracuse, Labrie 11 (Namestnikov, Connolly), 9:11. 2, Syracuse, Johnson 27 (Palat, Barberio), 14:29 (PP). Penalties-Pyett Ct (holding), 12:53; Yogan Ct (roughing), 18:13.

2nd Period-3, Syracuse, Johnson 28 (Barberio, Palat), 18:16 (PP). Penalties-Pyett Ct (roughing), 6:19; Carroll Ct (roughing), 8:29; Angelidis Syr (roughing), 8:29; Devos Syr (holding), 15:08; Newbury Ct (hooking), 17:18; Carroll Ct (fighting), 18:32; Pelech Ct (boarding), 18:32; Tyrell Syr (roughing, fighting), 18:32.

3rd Period-4, Syracuse, Wyman 10 (Palat), 7:34. Penalties-Brown Syr (cross-checking), 7:59; Segal Ct (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:38.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 9-13-7-29. Syracuse 13-16-9-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 2; Syracuse 2 / 5.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 19-22-1 (38 shots-34 saves). Syracuse, Desjardins 10-13-2 (29 shots-29 saves).
A-5,009
Referees-Trent Knorr (44).
Linesmen-Andy Petrus (26), Fraser McIntyre (94).

Wilkes-Barre, PA, February 23, 2013 – Rookie defenseman Joe Morrow’s goal with 52.5 seconds left in overtime gave the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 2-1 win over the Connecticut Whale Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

With the win, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton moved to two points ahead of the Whale (25-22-5-2, 57 points) in the Eastern Conference playoff race.  The Whale currently hold down the eighth-and-final playoff spot in the conference, three points ahead of ninth-place Worcester.

Brandon Segal scored the only Whale goal Saturday, and former Whale Chad Kolarik had the other Penguin tally.  Trevor Smith assisted on both Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goals.  Jeff Zatkoff got the win in the Penguin net with 26 saves, and Cam Talbot stopped 30 shots for the Whale, who played the game one skater short of the roster limit of 18.

“It was a hard-fought game by us,” Segal said.  “We had a depleted lineup, and it was a little rough at the start, but as the game went on we got better and better.  We gave a heck of an effort and can definitely take a positive out of this game.”

The deciding goal resulted from a faceoff win by Smith in the Whale zone.  He drew the puck back to the left point to Joey Mormina, and he sent it to Morrow at the middle of the blue line.  Morrow’s long snap shot found its way past Talbot to end the game.

Scoring chances were scarce in the first period, in which the Whale were outshot 8-5, and the Whale’s best chance of the second period was a partial breakaway for Andrew Carroll around the seven-minute mark.

Carroll made a move to the forehand but Zatkoff got his right skate to the post, and Carroll’s try went wide.  Near the end of the period, Kolarik was able to walk up the slot in the Connecticut zone, but his shot went off the crossbar behind Talbot.

The game remained scoreless headed into the third period, before the two teams traded power-play goals only 1:27 apart early in the third.

First it was Kolarik finding the net at 4:16, with Segal in the penalty box for closing his hand on the puck.  Smith fed a pass across to an unchecked Kolarik at the left side of the slot, and he was easily able to bang the puck in.

The Whale responded at 5:43 on a two-man advantage, after Zach Sill was hit with a double-minor for high-sticking Kelsey Tessier only 34 seconds after Tom Kostopoulos took an interference minor.

On the five-on-three, Kris Newbury fed the puck from the right-wing faceoff dot across the slot to Segal, whose one-timer from the bottom of the left circle beat Zatkoff.

The Whale continue a two-game road weekend Sunday afternoon in Syracuse, with a 3:00 PM game against the Crunch.  All of the action of that game can be heard live on “Beethoven Radio” AM 1290, as well as on-line at www.ctwhale.com.  Video streaming is available at www.ahllive.com. 

The next home game for the Whale is this Friday, March 1 against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:00 PM.  As at all Friday-night Whale home games, fans that night can enjoy $1 hot dogs and $2 beers at the XL Center until the end of the first intermission.

For all Whale home games, tickets start as low as $10 each ($12 each when tickets are purchased on the day of the game), at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, through TicketMaster Charge-by-Phone at 1-800-745-3000 and on-line at www.ticketmaster.com.

To continue reading, please click on the continue reading button below if you're on the home page.

Connecticut Whale 1 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2 (OT)
Saturday, February 23, 2013 – Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

Connecticut 0 0 1 0 – 1
W-B/Scranton 0 0 1 1 – 2

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Payerl Wbs (delay of game), 3:06.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Newbury Ct (interference), 3:19.

3rd Period-1, W-B/Scranton, Kolarik 20 (Smith, Dumoulin), 4:16 (PP). 2, Connecticut, Segal 15 (Newbury, Pyett), 5:43 (PP). Penalties-Segal Ct (closing hand on puck), 4:02; Kostopoulos Wbs (interference), 4:31; Sill Wbs (double minor – high-sticking), 5:05; Kolarik Wbs (delay of game), 18:34.

OT Period-3, W-B/Scranton, Morrow 3 (Mormina, Smith), 4:07. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 5-8-13-1-27. W-B/Scranton 8-15-8-1-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 1 / 5; W-B/Scranton 1 / 2.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 19-21-1 (32 shots-30 saves). W-B/Scranton, Zatkoff 17-15-0 (27 shots-26 saves).
A-8,242
Referees-Trent Knorr (44).
Linesmen-Scott Adams (20), Jud Ritter (34).

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NEW YORK, February 23, 2013 –New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has recalled forward Christian Thomas from the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Thomas, 20, has tallied four goals and three assists in the last six games with Connecticut, including a career-high, three-point effort on February 9 at St. John’s (one goal, two assists). He has registered 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 points, along with 13 penalty minutes in 52 games with the Whale this season. Thomas leads all Connecticut rookies in goals, points, power play goals (three) and shots on goal (104), and is tied for fifth on the team overall in points, ranks fourth in goals and shots, and is tied for third in power play goals. He has posted four multi-point performances, including multi-goal efforts on November 10 at Worcester (two goals) and February 15 against Portland (two goals).

The 5-9, 170-pounder registered one goal and one assist in five games with Connecticut last season. He made his professional debut with Connecticut on April 7, 2012, at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and recorded his first professional points with a goal and an assist on April 13, 2012, against Manchester. Thomas also skated in six postseason contests with the Whale during the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Prior to turning professional, Thomas skated in 244 career games over four seasons with the Oshawa Generals and London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), registering 137 goals and 120 assists for 257 points, along with 91 penalty minutes. He established OHL career-highs in games played (66), goals (54), assists (45), points (99), power play goals (19), penalty minutes (38) and plus/minus rating (plus-20) during the 2010-11 season. He and his father, former NHL forward Steve Thomas, became the first father-son duo to record 50+ goals in an OHL campaign. Thomas led the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) in goals over a two-year span, registering 95 goals combined over the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

The Toronto, Ontario native was originally selected as the Rangers’ second round choice, 40^th overall, in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

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