By Bruce Berlet

HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut Whale center Oren Eizenman called Sunday’s game against the AHL powerhouse Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins “a litmus test of us.”

Veteran right wing Jeremy Williams, who will be the Whale’s lone representative in the AHL All-Star Classic in two weeks, said the Penguins “are pretty much the benchmark of the league, so it will be a good measuring stick.”

The Whale measured up quite well from the outset thanks to wing Chad Kolarik, who used help from John Hynes while playing for the first-year Penguins’ coach on the 2004 U.S. Under-18 developmental team to set a franchise record for shorthanded goals in a period and tie a team record for points in a period in leading the Whale to a 6-3 victory before 5,382 at the XL Center.

“Chad was hopping in the first period,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “Obviously a team as good as that, you don’t want to be defending all night, if you don’t have to. You have to be able to counterpunch and create your own offense.”

Hynes had an up close and personal look at the multi-talented Kolarik while coaching the speedy wing on the 2004 U.S. Under-18 developmental team. But Hynes saw more than he wanted of Kolarik in the first period alone as Kolarik’s first two shorthanded goals as a pro set a franchise record for a period and tied Mike Ouellette’s record for a game. His four points in the first 20 minutes also tied a record shared by seven others for points in a period, as the Whale rebounded from being outscored 5-2 in losses to Portland and Providence on Friday and Saturday night with four goals on 10 shots in the first period, chasing Eastern Conference All-Star starting goalie Brad Thiessen.

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“I know what (Kolarik) can do, and he did,” said Hynes, who received a handshake from Kolarik on the ice after the game. “He was an excellent player for me, and he was on today.”

Kolarik called Hynes “a good friend of mine.”

“We’ve kept in touch, and he’s a really nice guy,” Kolarik said. “I’m really happy for him because he climbed the ladder real quick. He got a couple breaks and has done well, so good for him.”

Hynes was plenty good for Kolarik.

“It’s funny because I’d never killed penalties before I got with him,” Kolarik said with a chuckle. “He helped me a lot with that just trying to block shots and use my speed on the (penalty kill). I have two shorties (Sunday), which is kind of ironic. But he was instrumental on me for my defensive game. It’s been hard for me to get the defensive side of my game, but he helped me with that when I was young.”

The Whale (21-16-2-5) tied their second-highest offensive output of the season as the Penguins (32-9-0-0) had a season-high, seven-game winning streak stopped. The four goals in the first period were one more than the Penguins had allowed in a period this season, and when Tim Kennedy scored into an empty net with 49 seconds left, the Penguins had yielded their most goals in a game.

“I thought Connecticut came out flying around ready to play,” said Hynes, whose team had allowed only three shorthanded goals in 40 games. “We had a couple breakdowns, and they executed right off the bat. The goals they scored were excellent goals, but we gave up some chances. Credit to them.”

Especially Kolarik.

“I had some chances Saturday (in a 3-2 loss to Providence), but I just hit (goalie Matt) Dalton’s shoulder,” Kolarik said. “We just were bearing down (Sunday) and burying the chances we had. (Friday and Saturday nights) we had some great chances, and we were a little snake-bitten and maybe not bearing down a little bit. We have a bunch of guys who can score, but it’s just the mental aspect, putting it through the net not just trying to score.”

The Penguins overcame the poor start to get to 4-3 on Geoff Walker’s rebound goal with five seconds left in the second period. But they were outshot 11-4 in the third period, and Evgeny Grachev’s second goal of the game for a 5-3 lead at 5:53 basically settled the issue, as the Penguins finished 1-for-9 on the power play.

“That fifth one is the one that did us in,” Hynes said. “We had some prime-time chances in the second period where we probably could have taken lead, hitting two pipes and having the 5-on-3 (for 46 seconds). But when they had opportunities to score, they scored, and when we had our opportunities, we didn’t put them in the net.”

Penguins defenseman Corey Potter, a fourth-round pick of the New York Rangers in 2003 who played all but eight games in his first four pro seasons with the former Hartford Wolf Pack, also knew about Kolarik’s talents. They played against each other for three years (2006-08) when Potter was at Michigan State and Kolarik at Michigan.

“They came out pretty hard and had a little more desperation than us,” said Potter, who had 21 goals and 81 assists in 246 games with the Wolf Pack. “They had just dropped two in a row, and we had come off seven (wins) in a row, so I think it just comes down to that first period. If we had come out with a little more grit and a little more desperation, I think it would have been a different story.

“And our power play has been struggling a bit all year, but we win games five-on-five, which is one of the things we try to do, stay five-on-five. Unfortunately they got a couple of shorthanded goals, which doesn’t happen too often and kind of deflated us a little bit. But we’ll just learn from it.”

Kolarik started quickly during the game’s first power play after Grachev’s delay of game penalty at 34 seconds, as he raced down left wing with Ryan Garlock on a 2-on-1 and beat Thiessen high to the far glove side at 1:49.

“I got my penalty on purpose so CK could score a goal. (Gernander) drew it up,” Grachev said with a smile.

“When you get that first goal early, it kind of sparks you,” said Kolarik, who has 13 goals and 10 assists in 26 games since being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets and Springfield Falcons for former Wolf Pack captain Dane Byers on Nov. 11. “After that goal, I felt really good, and it’s all mental. When you get it going, you have it. I had earlier in the season that one game against Springfield; it just happens.

“Sunday games are tough. With three games in three days, it’s always the team that’s up from the start, and we had a good start that helped us a lot and we got up 4-1 after the first. After that, they took it to us a little bit. They’re a good team who has guys who can really play, so they’re going to have a good run and hopefully we see them later on (in the playoffs).”

The Penguins got even only 16 seconds after Kolarik’s first goal as Dustin Jeffrey, the team’s leading scorer just returned from the Pittsburgh Penguins, raced around Whale defenseman Tomas Kundratek and passed to the right post to a wide-open Steve Wagner.

Thiessen made a brilliant save off Whale All-Star right wing Jeremy Williams during a power play at 3:51, but Kennedy found Grachev slicing through the slot for a 2-1 lead 17 seconds later.

Thiessen kept it a one-goal game when he denied Jason Williams cruising down the slot at 5:03, but Jeremy Williams made it 3-1 when he raced down left wing around Penguins captain Ryan Craig and put a wrist shot to the far corner at 5:40 for his 21^st goal, tying former Wolf Pack wing Nigel Dawes of the Chicago Wolves for the AHL lead.

Then with the Penguins on their fourth power play, the period ended as it began as Kolarik took a lead pass from Garlock, raced down left wing and beat Thiessen high to the far glove side with 3.3 seconds left.

Thiessen was pulled at the end of the period after allowing four goals on 10 shots and replaced by John Curry, who was a standout at Taft School-Watertown. And before Sam Klassen’s late slashing penalty in the first period expired, the Penguins got to 4-2 as Chris Collins deflected Jeffrey’s shot past Cameron Talbot at 18 seconds of the second period.

Curry then kept the Penguins in the game at 4:18 when he stopped Kelsey Tessier, who didn’t have anyone within 15 feet of him in the slot.

The Penguins then had a 5-on-3 for 46 seconds, but Talbot made brilliant saves off Nick Johnson and Jeffrey, who also hit the post. Talbot also was alert to deny Craig’s turnaround bid during another Penguins power play, then Curry made a sliding stop off Garlock at the right post off a brilliant setup by Kolarik with 5:09 left.

But after Jeremy Williams took a roughing penalty, Geoff Walker jammed in a second round to get the Penguins to 4-3 with five seconds left in the period.

With the difference down to a goal, the teams came out a bit conservative in the third period, but the Whale regained a two-goal lead when Jeremy Williams deflected Pavel Valentenko’s shot from the point to a wide-open Grachev, who bided his time and scored his second goal of the game at 5:53. The fifth goal enabled the fans to cash in their ticket stubs for a free taco at Moe’s Southwestern Grill.

“A nice backhand-forehand that was a really big goal at the time,” Gernander said.

“We had a one-goal lead and were kind of struggling at the beginning of the third, and it gave us a little boost,” Grachev said. “I was standing in front waiting for a shot coming, and I saw (Williams) deflected it, and I was right there. I was going to go backhand first, but I thought (Curry) was going to get there, so I had to go back again, and fortunately it went in.

“I thought we played well against Providence. I had a couple chances, and other guys, too, but I don’t think we were that bad. We just needed another shot from second effort, and today they went in for us. They’re the best team in the league, so I think a lot of guys were ready for this game to see where we’re at. It was a challenge for us to get us back on track after those two losses, and I think we did.”

Curry again kept the Penguins close with strong stops on Kennedy, Devin DiDiomete and Jason Williams (on a power play), but Kennedy iced it with an empty-net goal with 49 seconds left just moments after a shot of his went just wide.

Moments after the red light went on, Kennedy looked at Kolarik and shook his head, apologizing for not setting up Kolarik for the his first hat trick with the Whale.

“I missed the first time and felt bad about (not getting Kolarik the puck),” Kennedy said.

Kolarik countered, “He felt really bad about it, but the guy jumped at him and you want to ice it. I do not care about the hat trick. I just want to get the win and worry about a hat trick later.”

Gernander also didn’t care about a hat trick, just getting two points against the AHL’s best team.

“The only thing we addressed is that we played well in a lot of stretches on Saturday night (a 3-2 loss to Providence), but good isn’t good enough when you’re desperate or have to have that sense of urgency to make sure the puck gets to the back of net instead of it just being a good scoring chance,” Gernander said.

“And Talbot really battled in the second period when we gave them way too much momentum with too many penalties. It wasn’t pretty. There a lot of scrambles and sustained pressure and times when he had to fight for vision of the puck in those types of scenarios, and I thought he really battled hard.”

Tracking the puck better is something Talbot has been working on with Rangers goaltenders coach Benoit Allaire.

“I’m pretty pleased my performance and pretty pleased with everyone’s performance,” said Talbot. “We did what we needed to do, get on the board early, got some key goals and actually chased one of the better goalies in the league out of the net in the first period, which is a tough thing to do against a team that’s really defensive, so it’s safe to say the whole team had a good game.

“They’re the No. 1 team in the league for a reason, so we knew they weren’t going to sit back and just let us hand it to them. But we did a good job of kind of weathering the storm in the second period and went into the second intermission still with the lead, which was a big thing for us. Then the guys came out strong in the third, I faced only four shots, so we did a helluva job, didn’t sit back, went right at them and finished the game strong.”

A SEASON TO REMEMBER FOR FORMER WOLF PACK DEFENSEMAN

Potter returned to the XL Center on a professional high, and who could blame him. The Penguins motored into town Sunday morning from Glen Falls, N.Y., after a 4-2 victory over Adirondack with 64 points, 13 more than runners-up Charlotte and Norfolk in the East Division. By comparison, last year’s Hershey Bears, who set an AHL-record with 60 victories thanks in large part to former Wolf Pack wing Alexander Giroux, were 29-9-0-2 (60 points) at the 40-game mark.

“I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” said Potter, who scored his first goal of the season Saturday night. “We got off to a great start (nine consecutive victories) and pretty much haven’t stopped. The whole team is playing hard and really good team defense. Forwards are coming back and helping out really well, and both goalies have been playing really well. And there aren’t really any weaknesses in the defensive corps, so it’s pretty much that the whole team defense has pretty much won a lot of games for us, and we’re just looking to keep things rolling.”

The Penguins have accomplished the record pace mostly without veteran defenseman Andrew Hutchinson, who missed his 19^th consecutive game since sustaining a knee injury in a 5-1 victory over Albany on Dec. 1. Hutchinson, expected to return Friday night at Adirondack, won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s top defenseman while in his one season with the Wolf Pack (2007-08), when he had 18 goals and 46 assists in 67 games. He had three goals and 14 assists in 17 games before being injured.

“He was a catalyst to our power play for a bit, but we’ve had some guys step in and play pretty good in replacing him,” said Potter, who was among the players to fill the void and has one goal and 17 assists in 38 games. “But he’ll be back soon and help on the power play even more.”

Despite playing four seasons with the Wolf Pack, renamed the Connecticut Whale on Nov. 27, Potter had never seen the visitors’ locker room before Sunday.

“It’s kind of weird,” Potter said while standing outside his new digs. “I’ve never been over here, but it’s pretty nice with a lot of room. Not a bad setup.

“I had a good four years (with the Wolf Pack), and it was good to see all the guys out there. It’s fun to play against guys you played with for four years, so it was a good time but unfortunately we didn’t get the win.

“I’m friends with all the guys over there, and they were giving me some grief every time I touched the puck, but it was fun. … There was some good interest in me out there. I just had to go where there were some open spots on defense, and Pittsburgh seemed to be a pretty good fit. They had two spots open on two-way contracts on the backend, so I thought there was some opportunity.”

Hynes is delighted with Potter’s choice.

“He’s a competitive guy who is consistent every game and is really defending well using his size, skating and stick to his advantage,” Hynes said. “Now we have him on one of our power-play units, and he does a good job. He can deliver the puck to the net, has a really good shot, and we’ve kept him there because he makes good decisions.”

NEWBURY AGAIN IN RANGERS LINEUP; WHALE SCRATCHES SAME TRIO

Center Kris Newbury, the Whale’s leading scorer with 35 points, played his second consecutive game with the Rangers Sunday night, a 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Newbury again replaced right wing Dale Weise, who had his best game in the NHL a 4-1 loss to the Flyers in his NHL debut Dec. 18. Newbury made his Rangers debut Saturday night and got into a fight with Travis Moen in a 3-2 loss to the host Montreal Canadiens.

Newbury played 13 shifts for 8:19 on a line with captain/Trumbull native Chris Drury and Sean Avery. But it was another former Whale forward, Mats Zuccarello, who helped get the Rangers back in the game with assists on goals by Wojtek Wolski and rookie Derek Stepan in the third period. Meanwhile, the Whale again scratched injured center Todd White and defensemen Wade Redden and Jyri Niemi. Besides Hutchinson, the Penguins scratched forward Ryan Schnell and right wing Jesse Boulerice, who is serving a 10-game suspension for making physical contact with referee Francis Charron. … Rink construction at Rentschler Field in Hartford for the “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest” on Feb. 11-23 begins Thursday. The featured attraction is a doubleheader Feb. 19 between the Hartford Whalers and Boston Bruins alumni at 4 p.m., followed by the Whale and Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. Celebrities will play for both teams, and in case of bad weather, the game will be Feb. 20 at the XL Center. … The Whale’s eighth Tip-A-Player Dinner and Sports Carnival, presented by Aetna, is Sunday at the XL Center from 4-7 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults and $20 for children, and proceeds benefit Gaylord Specialty Healthcare at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford. For more information, contact Lori Leniart at 860-728-3366.

WHALE HOMESTAND ENDS FRIDAY NIGHT

The Whale’s three-game homestand concludes against the North Division-leading Hamilton Bulldogs (23-13-1-4) on Friday night at 7, when former Hartford Wolf Pack standouts and close friends Terry Virtue and Todd Hall of Hamden will sign autographs in the XL Center atrium from 6-7 p.m. and then drop the ceremonial first puck. Virtue is an assistant coach with Owen Sound of the Ontario Hockey League, whose owners include former Whalers right wing Paul MacDermid, and Hall is an assistant coach with the No. 1-ranked Hamden High hockey team, which won the state Division I title the last two years.

Virtue will be making a pit stop on his way from his home in Tara, Ont., to Worcester, Mass., where he’ll be one of the first six inductees into the Worcester Hockey Hall of Fame on Jan. 22 at the DCU Center. It’s “Salute to the IceCats Night,” the name of the AHL franchise that preceded the Sharks in Worcester, and Virtue will be inducted with former Whalers wing Scott Young, Kelly O’Leary, Eddie Bates, Larz Anderson and Marvin Degon Sr., father of former Wolf Pack defenseman Martin Degon.

The Bulldogs’ top two scorers, center David Desharnais (10, 35) and former New Canaan High School and Taft School-Watertown star wing Max Pacioretty (17, 15), are on recall to the Montreal Canadiens. The remaining top offensive threats are center Ben Maxwell (6, 19), right wings Aaron Palushaj (5, 17) and J.T. Wyman (10, 9), and defenseman Brendon Nash (2, 17). Center Ryan Russell, the Rangers’ seventh-round pick in 2005, has five goals and six assists and is plus-8 in 39 games. Veteran Curtis Sanford (15-7-1), who will make his AHL All-Star debut in two weeks, is first in the league in goals-against average (1.74) and save percentage (.938), which improved Friday night when he won a classic goaltending duel with Jean-Philippe Levasseur of Syracuse, 1-0 in a shootout. Sanford made 22 saves in regulation and overtime, while Levasseur had a season-high 46 stops. After surrendering an opening-round shootout goal to former Avon Old Farms standout Nick Bonino, Sanford stopped the Crunch’s next four shooters to notch the win. Ben Maxwell and rookie Alexander Avtsin scored for the Bulldogs as Sanford got his third shutout of the season. Levasseur also got credit for a shutout, his third of the season.

It will be a special Family Value Night at which New Britain Rock Cats mascot Rocky will be on hand with Whale mascots Pucky and Sonar. There will be a giveaway, a table setup and autograph session, and the New Britain High School marching band will perform the national anthem and during the first intermission. Tickets in the lower level are $16 and include a soda and pizza slice or hot dog. Visit www.ctwhale.com.

MORE IN COMMON FOR GERNANDER AND KEANE

Gernander and Mike Keane have plenty in common. During their playing days, they were gritty, intelligent, hard-trying forwards who were captains of their teams and wore No. 12 during lengthy careers that included brief stays with the New York Rangers.

Gernander became the only Hartford Wolf Pack/Connecticut Whale player to have his number retired and raised to the rafters on Oct. 8, 2005, three months after he announced his retirement. Keane will have his No. 12 retired and sent to the rafters of the MTS Centre by the Manitoba Moose on Mike Keane Tribune Night on Feb. 12, when the San Antonio Rampage is in town.

Keane was a three-time Stanley Cup champion with three teams (Canadiens, 1993; Colorado Avalanche, 1996; Dallas Stars, 1999) and played 1,230 NHL games before playing 443 AHL games in five seasons with the Moose. He received the AHL’s Fred T. Hunt Award for sportsmanship, determination and dedication to the game of hockey in 2007, an award that Gernander won in 1996 and 2004. Also like Gernander, Keane was named an AHL All-Star captain. Keane led the Canadian team in 2007 in Toronto, Gernander the PlanetUSA team in 1999 in Philadelphia, where he was joined by former Wolf Pack wing Johan Witehall and defenseman Rich Brennan. The Canadian team included former Wolf Pack center Derek Armstrong and former Yale defenseman Ray Giroux. … The Professional Hockey Players Association has agreed to a new five-year contract with Larry Landon to serve as executive director of the PHPA through June 30, 2016. Next season will be Landon’s 30^th with the association. … Two former Wolf Pack and Rangers forwards are now playing in Europe. Center Jamie Lundmark has left the Milwaukee Admirals for Timra in the Swedish Elite League, and wing Petr Prucha has gone from the Rampage to SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia.

LUNDQVIST, PACIORETTY HAVE RUN-IN IN RANGERS’ LOSS

Rangers All-Star goalie Henrik Lundqvist has been the target of charging opposition that hasn’t been penalized, so the usually subdued Swede had had enough when Pacioretty ended up his crease with 2:13 left in the second period Saturday night. Lundqvist jumped on Pacioretty and began throwing punches with his blocker hand. Players from both sides jumped into the fray, and after a long scrum, Lundqvist emerged without his facemask on.

“I just felt like he didn’t try and stop at all,” Lundqvist told the New York media. “Usually I stay pretty calm, but it’s kind of hard to stay calm in this building because your emotions fly, especially when he doesn’t stop. It just happened.”

Tortorella had no problem with his star goalie’s actions.

“I loved Hank doing that,” Tortorella said. “I loved his emotion.”

WHALE 6, PENGUINS 3

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton     1 2 0 – 3
Connecticut                        4 0 2 – 6

First period: 1. Conn, Kolarik 16 (Garlock, Nightingale), 1:49 (sh). 2., WBS, Wagner 4 (Jeffrey), 2:05. 3. Conn, Grachev 7 (Kennedy, Kolarik), 4:08. 4. Conn, Williams 21 (Del Zotto, Kolarik), 5:40 (pp). 5. Conn, Kolarik 17 (Garlock), 19:56 (sh). Penalties: Grachev, Ct (delay of game), 0:34; Bortuzzo, WBS (charging), 1:49; Collins, WBS (high-sticking), 4:10; Tessier, Ct (slashing), 4:10; Sterling, WBS (hooking), 5:13; Bickel, Ct (hooking), 13:10; Williams, Ct (tripping), 15:44; Klassen, Ct (slashing), 18:50.

Second period: 6. WBS, Veilleux 4 (Jeffrey, Sterling), 0:18 (pp). 7. WBS, Walker 3 (Sill, Wagner), 19:55. Penalties: Walker, WBS (interference, roughing), 7:47; DiDiomete, Ct (roughing), 7:47; Eizenman, Ct (hooking), 9:30; Nightingale, Ct (slashing), 10:45; Valentenko, Ct (tripping), 13:23; Sterling, WBS (roughing), 18:06; Williams, Ct (roughing), 19:48.

Third period: 8. Conn, Grachev 8 (Williams, Valentenko), 5:53. 9. Conn, Kennedy 9, 19:11 (en). Penalties: Potter, WBS (interference), 11:32; Garlock, Ct (tripping), 19:48; Strait, WBS (slashing), 20:00.

Shots on goal: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 10-16-4-30. Connecticut 10-9-11-30; Power-play opportunities: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 1 of 9; Connecticut 1 of 5; Goalies: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Thiessen 18-4-0 (10 shots-6 saves); Curry (19-18). Connecticut, Talbot 8-3-2 (30-27); A: 5,382; Referees: Jamie Koharski, David Banfield; Linesmen: Kevin Redding, Brent Colby.

By Bruce Berlet

HARTFORD, Conn. – Something had to change for the Connecticut Whale and Providence Bruins on Saturday night.

The teams entered the XL Center coming off shutout losses 24 hours earlier while missing key personnel via call-ups and injuries.

The Whale continued to have plenty of difficulty finding the net until a wild, final 21/2 minutes and dropped a 3-2 decision to the Bruins before 9,118, the Whale’s second-largest home crowd of the season.

Stellar goaltending by Matt Dalton (34 saves), and Maxime Sauve’s two goals, put the Bruins in command before the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Brian McGrattan received a 5-minute major and a double game misconduct for an illegal check to the head of 5-9, 177-pound Kelsey Tessier with 4:14 left.

“It was a cheap shot,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said.

Justin Soryal, upset with McGrattan’s reaction to Tessier lying on the ice, came to Tessier’s defense and received a double game misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct and leaving the bench.

“I didn’t see him coming, not at all,” Tessier said. “I passed the puck to (Ryan) Garlock and wanted to go back to the bench because it was a long shift, but, boom, he came from that (blind) side a couple of seconds late, for sure. I’m lucky that I didn’t get anything wrong and didn’t get a concussion or didn’t get hurt.

“Those are the situations that have been going on in the NHL, the hits to the head that are a couple of seconds late like that.”

Bruins coach Rob Murray didn’t see anything wrong with the hit by McGrattan.

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“Tessier didn’t miss a shift and assisted on the (Whale’s first) goal,” Murray said.

Tessier got revenge when he set up Oren Eizenman’s tap-in goal with 2:30 to go, then the Whale got to 3-2 when Brodie Dupont converted a give-and-go with Michael Del Zotto on a 6-on-3 power play with 6.9 seconds left after the Whale pulled goalie Chad Johnson (15 saves).

But it was too late for the Whale (20-16-2-5) to atone for a 3-0 loss at Portland on Friday night thanks largely to Dalton, who made a series of spectacular saves through the first 571/2 minutes. The strong work earned Dalton the No. 1 star and enabled the Bruins (16-19-3-1) to end a 0-2-1-0 slide that had dropped them into the Atlantic Division cellar, six points behind the Springfield Falcons, who lost 6-3 to the Albany Devils.

Meanwhile, the Whale (20-16-2-5) lost two in a row for the first time since No. 21 and 26 and the first time in regulation since Nov. 5-6. The Whale dropped 10 points behind first-place Manchester, a 4-3 winner over Binghamton, and four points back of Portland, which beat Worcester 8-3. The Whale had won the previous three meetings with the Bruins, including 6-2 at the XL Center on Jan. 1. But the Bruins are 11-6-2-0 on the road.

“We had our chances, but we have to bear down,” said Eizenman, who assisted on Dupont’s goal. “You can’t let teams hang around in this league because they’ll make you pay. They made good plays for their goals, and we couldn’t get one until it was too little too late.

“A game like that is a little frustrating because they capitalized on their chances, and we didn’t. It’s one of those kinds that makes you want to scratch your head, but they’ll even out hopefully at some point, so you just have to keep working hard. You can’t get down over a game like that because the bounces even out in the end. It’s the team that’s willing to stick to their guns and try to get those chances and create those breaks that ends up doing well. That’s why it’s an 80-game season. In one or two games, anything can happen, but over an 80-game season, things usually even out.”

The Whale had most of the quality scoring chances in the first period but trailed off a bad turnover. Matt Dalton stopped Dupont off a 2-on-1 at 2:48, then Del Zotto’s shot from the right point hit the far post at 4:21.

Moments later, Whale defenseman Stu Bickel’s clearing attempt went off Tim Kennedy’s stick to Maxime Sauve, who broke in alone and put a backhander between Chad Johnson’s legs at 4:57.

But the Whale continued to press, and Dalton had to be sharp to get his glove on Chad Kolarik’s 30-foot shot in the slot off a pass from Jason Williams at 6:29, then 26 seconds later, defenseman Jared Nightingale scored a narrow decision over Lane MacDermid, the son of former Hartford Whalers right wing Paul MacDermid.

Dalton then sprawled to stop a rebound stuff by Devin DiDiomete. Dalton capped his stellar period with a left-pad save off Soryal, set up at the left post with 3:39 left on a diagonal pass from Chris Chappell, playing his second game since being called up from the ECHL’s Greenville Road Warriors.

Moments later, MacDermid got into his second fight, earning a draw with Soryal with 3:25 left in the period.

Johnson kept the Whale close through the midpoint of the second period, making bang-bang saves on Jamie Arniel and Sauve’s rebound bid at 4:57 and then denying Joe Colborne’s rebound stuff attempt at 10:28. Johnson and the Whale got fortunate when Jordan Caron hit the post on a power play with 7:34 left in the period, then 20 seconds later, Dalton stopped Evgeny Grachev’s point-blank, shorthanded bid off left wing off a perfect feed from Jason Williams.

With the Bruins on their third power play, the Whale got lucky again when Zach Hamill hit the post with 4:04 left. Dalton then denied two of the Whale’s sharpshooters in the final minute with glove saves off All-Star Jeremy Williams’ shot from the right circle with 51 seconds to go and Kolarik’s shot from the left circle with 14.4 seconds left.

Given those reprieves, Providence took a 2-0 lead early in the third period as Caron passed ahead to Hamill, whose shot was blocked by Bickel but rebounded to the Bruins center for a backhander that beat Johnson to the stick side at 1:33.

Then with the sides skating four a side, a possible Whale comeback turned dramatically when Dalton denied Tomas Kundratek’s close-in rebound at 6:05. Arniel immediately got the puck to Sauve, who raced around center Jason Williams, covering for Kundratek, and put home a forehand for his second goal of the game and what turned out to be the winner at 6:13.

The Whale and their followers then had to know it wasn’t their night when Grachev took a perfect lead pass on a 2-on-1 with Kolarik but missed the net from 20 feet in the slot at not-so-lucky 7:11.

The Whale then got their big chance after McGrattan’s hit on Tessier but couldn’t complete the comeback.

“I don’t think we were as sharp at the start as we were at the end,” Gernander said. “I think there seemed to be more desperation with that heightened sense of emotion. I thought we were a little crisper and more successful.”

Jeremy Williams agreed it was a matter of bearing down on shots.

“I thought we did a good job of getting our opportunities but not second chances where you get a rebound or really tire out the goalie,” Williams said. “If you just keep shooting out wide and just have to make one save, it’s not going to tire him out so he’s going to be able to play better.

“He made some good stops, but when we did get good shots from the slot, myself and others missed the net. It’s not like guys aren’t trying to hit the net, and it’s not like we didn’t play well as a team. We held onto the puck, got in the forecheck a bit, but when you get quick breaks and don’t score, you have to get some greasy goals, and that’s by getting guys to the net.”

Johnson had a hard time explaining how the Whale could have a 36-18 shot advantage and many more quality chances and still not be in the game until the final few minutes.

“It was just one of those nights where everything was kind of hitting (Dalton),” Johnson said. “He made some good saves because he was in good position, but we have guys who can put the puck in the net. We had corners but kept just missing the net. It’s deflating to be working hard and then just make a couple of mistakes.

“And I felt I was in position on all the goals, but it seemed like when they had chances they were just sniping on me. They just found ways to score, and that’s just how it going for me now. Shots are finding holes, so it’s not going my way right now.”

NEWBURY MAKES RANGERS DEBUT; WHITE MISSING FROM WHALE LINEUP

After being a healthy scratch for two games after being up called up by the New York Rangers for the first time on Monday, Whale center Kris Newbury, the team’s leading scorer with 35 points, made his Blueshirts debut Saturday night in a 3-2 loss to the host Montreal Canadiens. Newbury played 7:29 and had no shots and a first-period fight with Travis Moen. Former Whale wing Mats Zuccarello scored the Rangers’ second goal.

Newbury got his chance at the expense of rookie right wing Dale Weise, who is on his second recall to the Rangers.

Weise, scoreless in eight games with the Rangers while averaging 5:22 of ice time, was replaced by Newbury, who started his fifth NHL stint after previously playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings and was on a line with Rangers captain Chris Drury and Sean Avery. Meanwhile, the Whale again scratched injured defensemen Wade Redden and Jyri Niemi and center Todd White, injured Friday night. White was replaced by left wing Devin DiDiomete. The Bruins scratched defenseman Ryan Donald and forwards Wyatt Smith, Juraj Simek and David Ling. … The Whale’s eighth Tip-A-Player Dinner and Sports Carnival, presented by Aetna, is next Sunday at the XL Center from 4-7 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults and $20 for children, and proceeds benefit Gaylord Specialty Healthcare at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford. For more information, contact Lori Leniart at 860-728-3366.

FORMER BRUINS ENJOY MEETING WHALE FANS

Former Boston Bruins standouts Rick Middleton and Reggie Lemelin were a big hit while signing autographs before the game and then dropping the ceremonial first puck with former Whalers wing Garry Swain. Middleton, who played 12 seasons with the Bruins after two with the Rangers, and Lemelin also will play on the Bruins legends team that will face the Hartford Whalers legends Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. before the Whale plays the P-Bruins at 7 p.m. The doubleheader is part of the “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest” at Rentschler Field in East Hartford on Feb. 11-23.

“This outdoor game is really exciting,” Middleton said between autographs while wearing his Bruins jersey with a letter C during his first visit to the XL Center since 1988. “There were more than 25,000 people for an alumni game we played the day after the Bruins Winter Classic game (against the Philadelphia Flyers) at Fenway Park, and I don’t think many people knew about it. It was the most people that I ever played in front of. We split up the alumni and had some celebrities on each team, but this will be the Bruins against the Whalers. It’ll be a fun game, but when it gets late, I’m sure the competitive juices will be rising.”

Other early commitments for the Bruins team are Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch of Cheshire and Brad Park, who both also played for the Rangers, Ken Hodge, Don Marcotte, Rick Smith, Bob Sweeney, Lyndon Byers, Cleon Daskalakis, Jay Miller, Bob Miller (no relation) and Ken “The Rat” Linseman, who briefly was a member of the Whalers as he passed through in a multi-player trade with Philadelphia and Edmonton that included Mark Howe leaving Hartford for the Flyers. Early commitments for the Whalers team are WHA Hall of Famer Andre Lacroix, Jim Dorey, Jordy Douglas, Ray Neufeld, Gordie Roberts, Darren Turcotte, Nelson Emerson and the Babych brothers, Dave and Wayne.

Celebrities scheduled to play with one of the legends teams include Michael Keaton, Alan Thicke and David E. Kelley, son of New England and Hartford Whalers coach and general manager Jack Kelley and the writer of the 1999 hit film “Mystery, Alaska,” which was produced by Whalers Sports and Entertainment president and CEO Howard Baldwin and his wife, Karen. “Mystery, Alaska” cast members slated to appear are Michael Buie, Scott Richard Grimes, Jason Gray-Stanford, Kevin Durand, Fred J. Dukes and Cameron Bancroft, along with Neal McDonough, Kevin Zegers and the Hanson brothers – Steve, Jeff and Dave –  who were the comedic linchpins of the classic movie “Slap Shot.”

Tickets ($20 to $85) for the doubleheader can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com and the Bushnell box office in Hartford on Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. or by calling the Whale at 860-728-3366. They also can be purchased online and printed immediately at Ticketmaster.com.

POTTER RETURNS WITH NO. 1 PENGUINS SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Corey Potter, a long-time Wolf Pack defenseman, returns to the XL Center on Sunday at 3 p.m. as a member of the AHL’s best team.

Potter and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (32-8-0-0) will make their only Hartford appearance this season after starting the weekend with a 2-0 victory over Providence behind All-Star Brad Thiessen’s 20 saves and a 4-2 victory over Adirondack in which Potter scored his first goal of the season. Potter, the Rangers’ fourth-round pick in 2003, had 21 goals and 81 assists in 246 games with the Wolf Pack. He played only eight games with the Rangers, getting one goal and one assist.

Now Potter will renew some old acquaintances, see some familiar faces in the XL Center crowd and get a look at the inside of the visitors’ locker room for the first time. And he’ll do it against the Connecticut Whale, which was the Hartford Wolf Pack the last time he was in Connecticut.

“It’s the same team,” Potter told Jonathan Bombulie of the Scranton Times-Tribune. “A few new players. Same building. I’m looking forward to getting back there and playing against them.”

Potter returns on a bit of a roll with one goal and six assists and a plus-8 rating in the last 11 games.

The high-powered Penguins, who have won seven in a row to open an 11-point lead over the Charlotte Checkers in the East Division, are led by center Dustin Jeffrey (15, 24), left wing Brett Sterling (13, 15), right wing Nick Johnson (14, 14), forward Eric Tangradi (16, 9), left wing Tim Wallace (11, 12) and center Joe Vitale (8, 14). All-Star Brad Thiessen (18-3-0, 1.97, .923, three shutouts) and John Curry (14-5-0, 2.33, .911, one shutout) have both excelled in goal.

“It will be a litmus test for us,” Eizenman said.

“They’re pretty much the benchmark of the AHL, so it will be a good measuring stick for us,” Jeremy Williams said. “It’ll be three games in three nights, so it’ll be the old cliché, keep it simple and make easy, smart plays.”

It also will be a Guida’s Family Value Day in which family value packages start as low as $48 and include three tickets, three hot dogs or pizza slices, three sodas and a Whale souvenir. Guida’s Family Value packs are available at the XL Center box office or online at www.CtWhale.com. Fans are encouraged to bring their skates for a free postgame skate, sponsored by Stone Academy.

SOMMER REACHES MILESTONE

Congratulations to Worcester coach Roy Sommer on joining a rather exclusive club Friday night.

Sommer’s Sharks fittingly scored three goals in 2:40 in the third period to rally for a 3-1 victory over the host Springfield Falcons in his 1,000th regular-season AHL game. Sommer, who has spent his entire 13-year career coaching the San Jose Sharks’ AHL affiliates in Kentucky (1998-2001), Cleveland (2001-06) and Worcester (2006-present ), became just the fourth coach to reach the milestone. He joined AHL Hall of Famers Frank Mathers (1,256), Fred “Bun” Cook (1,171) and John Paddock (1,107), who led the Wolf Pack to their only Calder Cup title in 2000.

Sommer has coached more than 80 players who have spent time in the NHL, including former Wolf Pack wing Mikael Samuelsson, Joe Pavelski, Devin Setoguchi, Doug Murray, Ryane Clowe, Logan Couture, Dan Boyle, Miikka Kiprusoff, Brad Boyes, Christian Ehrhoff and Johan Hedberg.

The first game that Sommer coached was a 4-4 tie against the Hershey Bears on Oct. 9, 1998, and his first victory was 6-4 over the Albany River Rats eight days later. David Cunniff, son of former Whalers assistant coach and scout John Cunniff, played for the River Rats that night and has been Sommer’s assistant since 2002.

Sommer ranks fourth all-time in AHL victories, and his teams have won three division titles and made the Calder Cup Playoffs seven times.

Sommer, a 53-year-old native of Oakland, Calif., played 10 pro seasons, including a two-year stay with the Maine Mariners that saw him win a Calder Cup in 1984. He appeared in three NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers in 1980-81 and scored a goal in his NHL debut. … A night after becoming the AHL’s all-time leading scorer among defensemen, Bryan Helmer got a goal and two assists to lead the Oklahoma Barons to a 4-1 victory at Peoria on Friday night. It gave Helmer back-to-back three-point games, as he had two goals and an assist in a 7-2 victory over Peoria on Thursday. Before that, the 38-year-old Helmer had not registered a three-point game since Nov. 30, 2006, when he was a member of the San Antonio Rampage. He had five goals and five assists in five games since being signed by the Barons on Jan. 7. Entering a game at San Antonio on Saturday night, Helmer had career totals of 122 goals and 398 assists for 520 points in 986 regular-season AHL games in an 18-year career.

He broke the record of 519 points set nearly four years by John Slaney. … South Windsor native Jon DiSalvatore scored in regulation and then got the only goal in a shootout as the Houston Aeros beat the host Chicago Wolves 4-3 Friday night. Former Wolf Pack wing Nigel Dawes scored his league-leading 21^st goal for the Wolves.

MCDONAGH EARNING PRAISE ON BROADWAY

It’s only four games into his NHL career, but you can add rookie defenseman Ryan McDonagh to the growing list of young players developed by Gernander and assistants J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller who are receiving plaudits from Rangers coach John Tortorella.

“All I know is McDonagh, each game that he’s played, he’s getting better,” Tortorella told reporters in New York. “The thing I like about his game (in a 1-0 victory over league-leading Vancouver on Thursday night) was he wasn’t timid as far as the neutral zone, as far as his gaps, against a solid hockey club.”

The Rangers got McDonagh as part of the Scott Gomez trade after the 2008-09 season, and McDonagh signed with the Blueshirts on July 6 after deciding to forego his senior year at the University of Wisconsin, where he and Rangers center Derek Stepan helped lead the Badgers to the NCAA title game that lost they lost 5-0 to Boston College and the Rangers’ No. 1 prospect Chris Kreider.

McDonagh is scoreless but plus-2 while averaging about 11 minutes since being called up Jan. 3, and his quick development helped enable the Rangers to trade veteran defenseman Michal Rozsival for 24-year-old wing Wojtek Wolski, who scored the only goal on Thursday night.

“As far as the style and pace, it’s probably been what I’ve expected, the tempo and everything,” McDonagh said. “But I never expected it to be this fun, to be honest with you. We’re playing some big games and winning some big games. I’ve never had this much fun playing hockey.”

Stepan, who left Wisconsin after his sophomore year and has 12 goals and 12 assists in 45 games, isn’t surprised by the play of the 12^th overall pick in the 2007 NHL entry draft.

“Not one bit,” said Stepan, one of 12 players selected to participate in the NHL All-Star Rookie Skills Competition Jan. 30 in Raleigh, N.C. “Off the ice, he’s a quiet guy, real nice … (but) on the ice, he plays exactly the way the team’s identity is, so he fits in perfectly.”

Saturday night, McDonagh made his Montreal debut trying to help the Rangers gain some redemption for a 2-1 loss to the Canadiens on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

“I get up for every game,” McDonagh said. “Right now I’m still wide-eyed, so I don’t need any extra motivation to get up for a game. It’ll still exciting.”

Just like his game on Asylum Street and Broadway.

Providence Bruins 3, Connecticut Whale 2
XL Center, Hartford, CT

Providence     1 0 2 – 3
Connecticut    0 0 2 – 2

First period: 1. Prov, Sauve 8, 4:57. Penalties: MacDermid, Pro (roughing), 4:46; Nightingale, Ct (roughing), 4:46; MacDermid, Pro (fighting), 6:55; Nightingale, Ct (fighting), 6:55; MacDermid, Pro (fighting), 16:35; Soryal, Ct (roughing, fighting), 16:35.

Second period: No scoring. Penalties: Hamill, Pro (slashing), 6:06; Del, Zotto Ct (boarding), 11:19; Bickel, Ct (slashing), 15:27.

Third period: 2. Prov, Hamill 3 (Caron), 1:33. 3. Prov, Sauve 9 (Arniel), 6:13. 4. Conn, Eizenman 3 (Tessier, Grachev), 17:30 (pp). 5. Conn, Dupont 8 (Del Zotto, Eizenman), 19:53 (pp). Penalties: MacDermid, Pro (cross-checking), 1:54; Zimmerman, Pro (roughing), 5:28; Kennedy, Ct (roughing), 5:28; McGrattan, Pro (major-checking to the head, game misconduct-checking to the head, game misconduct-leaving the bench), 15:46; Soryal, Ct (game misconduct-unsportsmanlike conduct, game misconduct-leaving the bench), 15:46; Bodnarchuk, Pro (high-sticking), 18:15.

Shots on goal: Providence 10-4-4-18. Connecticut 9-13-14-36; Power-play opportunities: Providence 0 of 3; Connecticut 2 of 5; Goalies: Providence, Dalton 3-3-0 (36 shots-34 saves). Connecticut, Johnson 13-14-3 (18-15); A: 9,118; Referee: Jamie Koharski; Linesmen: David Spannaus, Luke Galvin