Every Wednesday we’ll take a look at the status of the
Rangers’ AHL affiliate. Top prospects Ryan Bourque and Carl Hagelin will
be key players for the Whale this season - we’ll check on how they’re doing and
how the team performs as the season progresses.
- Connecticut won consecutive games this weekend to reclaim
first place in the Northeast Division.
On Friday the Whale slipped by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers
3-2 in overtime to beat their rivals for the first time this season. Brendan Bell scored the game-winner on a
breakaway goal with just
6.8 seconds remaining in the extra frame.
Carl Hagelin and Francois Bouchard also scored. It was Bouchard’s first goal of the season
and as a member of the Whale. Chad
Johnson stopped 15 of 17 shots, but Bridgeport still managed a point because
Kevin Poulin made 42 saves for the Sound Tigers. It is troubling that Connecticut again
surrendered a 2-1 lead in the third period.
On Saturday Connecticut came back from a two-goal third
period deficit to defeat the
Providence Bruins 3-2 in a shootout.
Bell followed up his OT winner with the Whale’s first goal against
Providence and Jordan Owens also scored for Connecticut. Cam Talbot stopped 18 of 20 shots. John Mitchell and Hagelin scored for the
Whale in the shootout while Talbot stopped five of the Bruins’ six attempts. Aaron
Voros, Jared Nightingale, Mats Zuccarello and Wade Redden were the scratches. Zuccarello sat out because he was feeling
sick. Redden suffered an
upper-body injury on Saturday.
- Bell has two goals and two assists in his last three games
after sitting out as a healthy scratch.
He now has two goals and five assists in 10 games this season to lead CT
defensemen.
- Hagelin, Mitchell, Zuccarello and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault are in a four-way tie for the team lead with 12 points apiece. Zuccarello, though, has recorded his 12
points in just 10 games.
- Hagelin leads the Whale at plus-10. No other CT player is better than
plus-5. Hagelin also leads the team with
42 shots on goal.
- Voros spoke with Paul Doyle of the Hartford Courant about
signing with the CT Whale and indicated that he made a mistake by passing on
some opportunities (NHL offers?) this summer.
Voros asked GM Glen Sather for a shot to prove himself in Connecticut
and Sather obliged. “Voros said he
called Sather -- or Mr. Sather, as he referred to him -- and asked if ‘he
minded if I go down to Hartford and play and see if I can help them out down
there and see if I can get these wheels turning again.’”
- Kris Newbury was suspended
four games for an illegal hit to
the head on November 18th against
Bridgeport.
- With Newbury suspended, Voros should make his debut tonight against
Portland.
- The Whale recalled defenseman Lee Baldwin from the Greenville
Road Warriors.
- Bruce Berlet writes about Tim Erixon’s busy year.
- SNYRangersBlog’s Nick Perri examines how Erixon and Hagelin have
played this season for the Whale.
- The week ahead: Connecticut will face-off against the
Portland Pirates tonight at 7:00 p.m.
Then, the Whale will play back-to-back road games on Friday and
Saturday, first in Bridgeport and then against Springfield. Both games start at 7:00 p.m.
Past editions of The Whale Week That Was:
The
Whale Week That Was - October 5, 2011 >
The
Whale Week That Was – October 12, 2011 >
The
Whale Week That Was – October 19, 2011 >
The
Whale Week That Was – October 26, 2011 >
The
Whale Week That Was – November 2, 2011 >
The
Whale Week That Was – November 9, 2011 >
The
Whale Week That Was – November 16, 2011 >
The Whale Week That Was – November 23, 2011 >
Click
here for our full 2011-2012 Season Archive >
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