By Wil Goldsholl

Hartford, CT, October 27, 2012 – Despite being outshot 40-23, the Connecticut Whale defeated the Providence Bruins 6-3 Saturday night at the XL Center.

The style of play reflected the geographical rivalry; the teams were grinding on the boards, finishing checks and peppering the goaltenders from the drop of the puck.

Kris Newbury led the way with a goal and two assists for the Whale, and Chris Kreider and Logan Pyett had a goal and an assist each.  Cam Talbot made 37 saves.

Two minutes and six seconds in, Providence’s Kyle MacKinnon fired a blind pass from the corner and Jamie Tardif was at the crease at the right time. The pass deflected off his skate and past Talbot, who earned his second start of the year in net after Friday night’s win over the Hershey Bears.

The teams continued to throw bodies through the first twenty minutes. Micheal Haley and Bobby Robins served major penalties for fighting six minutes in.

The Whale got on the board 7:52 in to the game when Chris Kreider slid a pass from the bottom of the circle to a breaking Ryan Bourque in the slot. At the 15-minute mark, another low-to-high feed landed on Bourque’s stick. Bruins goaltender Michael Hutchinson got a piece of the snapshot and it trickled behind him towards the goal line but did not cross. Forty-five seconds later, an almost identical near-miss happened in Talbot’s crease. Connecticut killed a power play when Andrew Yogan was sent off for roughing with 3:42 left, and the first stanza ended in a 1-1 draw.

The Whale came out swinging in the second period. Newbury fed the puck from the end boards to Blake Parlett at the point. Parlett’s slapper sailed wide of the net but banked around back to Chad Kolarik, who was in fortunate position. The goal came 94 seconds in to the period and was Kolarik’s second of the year.

The low-to-high pass worked for Connecticut again on the power play, when Kreider was grinding in the corner and got the puck to Newbury. Newbury found Mike Vernace at the point and it was Kreider who finished with 11:06 to play in the period. Coach Ken Gernander said of the goal, “If you look at a lot of our plays, there are opportunities we created and generally the hard way is the best way.”

Logan Pyett netted his first of 2011-12, when Kyle Jean delivered a pass while falling down. Pyett’s wrister from the right circle went bar down and with the score at 4-1, Michael Hutchinson was yanked from the game in favor of Niklas Svedberg.

Tommy Grant would also add a goal in the second before Jordan Caron tacked one on from Chris Bourque and Torey Krug with time winding in the period. Into the second intermission Connecticut led 5-2.

The Whale attack slowed in the third period and Talbot had to make a number of quality saves. Maxime Sauve cranked a slapshot passed Talbot with 17 minutes left to make things interesting, but Kris Newbury picked up an unassisted goal on a puck-handling flub by Svedberg, and that iced the game. 

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Providence Bruins 3 at Connecticut Whale 6
Saturday, October 27, 2012 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Providence 1 1 1 – 3
Connecticut 1 4 1 – 6

1st Period-1, Providence, Tardif 2 (MacKinnon, Cohen), 2:06. 2, Connecticut, Bourque 2 (Kreider, Pyett), 7:52. Penalties-Robins Pro (fighting), 6:00; Haley Ct (fighting), 6:00; Yogan Ct (roughing), 16:18; Robins Pro (interference), 18:54.

2nd Period-3, Connecticut, Kolarik 2 (Parlett, Newbury), 1:26. 4, Connecticut, Kreider 1 (Vernace, Newbury), 8:54 (PP). 5, Connecticut, Pyett 1 (Jean, Hrivik), 11:30. 6, Connecticut, Grant 3 (Thomas, Haley), 13:39. 7, Providence, Caron 4 (Bourque, Krug), 18:43 (PP). Penalties-MacKinnon Pro (interference), 7:07; Kolarik Ct (delay of game), 18:18.

3rd Period-8, Providence, Sauve 3 (Cunningham, Bourque), 3:00 (PP). 9, Connecticut, Newbury 4 8:07 (SH). Penalties-Parlett Ct (holding), 1:42; Klassen Ct (boarding), 5:36; Jean Ct (interference), 7:59; Parlett Ct (hooking), 11:33.

Shots on Goal-Providence 12-12-16-40. Connecticut 6-9-8-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 2 / 6; Connecticut 1 / 2.
Goalies-Providence, Hutchinson 0-3-0 (13 shots-9 saves); Svedberg 2-1-0 (10 shots-8 saves). Connecticut, Talbot 2-0-0 (40 shots-37 saves).
A-3,535
Referees-Pierre Lambert (39), Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Luke Galvin (2), Paul Simeon (66).

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By Wil Goldsholl

Hartford, CT, October 26, 2012 – The Connecticut Whale improved to 2-3-1-0 Friday with a win over the Hershey Bears at the XL Center. Leaning on their strong first-period play, Connecticut posted a 3-1 victory over the visiting Bears. Whale netminder Cam Talbot picked up his first win of the season in his first appearance of 2012.

The Whale opened scoring against the Bears when Marek Hrivik snapped the puck out of the corner and found an unmarked Brandon Segal backdoor. The opening tally 4:25 into the first was Segal’s fourth goal in the last four games.

Exactly two minutes later, Hershey’s starting goaltender Dany Sabourin was left alone again. As the Whale cleared the defensive zone, Julien Brouillette could not corral a tricky bouncing puck.  Christian Thomas had momentum on his side and slid around Brouillette before swinging the puck across to Tommy Grant on the backdoor again. The goal was Grant’s second of the season.

Things looked grim for the Bears near the midway point of the first following Ryan Stoa’s tripping minor, but they survived the penalty kill without allowing any shots on goal.

With under five minutes to play in the first, Hershey generated a number of chances on broken plays but the Whale answered with a flurry of close range shots in the last two minutes. Sabourin stood strong and Connecticut took the 2-0 lead in to the break.

Hershey’s broken chances continued into the second period for several minutes before their attack stabilized.  Talbot maintained control of his crease though, saying he had no trouble with the long-range shots. “The first few [shots] were from the outside; that helped me get in the game and settle down. I just tried to not let up too many rebounds and help [the defense] as well,” Talbot said after the game.

With 4:15 to play in the second period, Blake Parlett was called for tripping, and the man advantage allowed the Bears several scoring opportunities. Thirty-seven seconds after Parlett’s minor expired, Mike Vernace was sent off for slashing. At the end of the second period, the Whale still held a 2-0 edge and they killed the remaining seconds on Vernace’s penalty at the start of the third.

Sixty seconds in to the third, Connecticut had one more power play chance on Zach Hamill’s slashing minor, but could not convert. With 8:18 to play, Parlett delivered a check on the nameplate that earned him a boarding minor; his second minor penalty of the night. Towards the end of Hershey’s five-on-four, Dmitry Orlov rifled one from the point around teammate Boyd Kane’s screen and over Talbot’s stick side shoulder. That goal cut the deficit in half, but Connecticut’s Ryan Bourque would seal the game with an empty-netter with 75 seconds left to play.

The offenses were well matched, with Connecticut outshooting Hershey 29-27. The extra shot made the difference as Sabourin stopped 26 of 28 and Talbot earned the first-star turning away 26 of the 27 he faced. The Whale face the Providence Bruins at home on Saturday at 7 P.M.  Tickets for that game, and all Whale regular season home games at the XL Center, are on sale now 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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Hershey Bears 1 at Connecticut Whale 3
Friday, October 26, 2012 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Hershey 0 0 1 – 1
Connecticut 2 0 1 – 3

1st Period-1, Connecticut, Segal 4 (Hrivik, Jean), 4:25. 2, Connecticut, Grant 2 (Thomas, Pyett), 6:25. Penalties-Stoa Her (tripping), 9:37.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Parlett Ct (tripping), 15:45; Vernace Ct (slashing), 18:22.

3rd Period-3, Hershey, Orlov 1 (Kundratek, Sjogren), 13:25 (PP). 4, Connecticut, Bourque 1 (Gilroy), 18:45 (EN). Penalties-Hamill Her (slashing), 1:00; Parlett Ct (boarding), 11:42; Hamill Her (slashing), 16:03.

Shots on Goal-Hershey 9-8-10-27. Connecticut 12-10-7-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Hershey 1 / 3; Connecticut 0 / 3.
Goalies-Hershey, Sabourin 1-2-0 (28 shots-26 saves). Connecticut, Talbot 1-0-0 (27 shots-26 saves).
A-3,072
Referees-Geoff Miller (28).
Linesmen-Brent Colby (7), Mike Baker (11).

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