Connecticut Whale—Worcester Sharks: Regular season game 32 preview
Friday night, the Connecticut Whale returns to action when they visit the Worcester Sharks for the second of four games in their 2011-12 season series. The only other game to be played between the clubs resulted in a 3-2 shootout victory for the Whale on October 29. Tomorrow’s game will be a 7:30pm (ET) start.
The Whale is looking to win their second straight game, and possibly jump to first-place in the Eastern Conference. Another victory could also improve their Northeast Division lead, with their current 40 point record (18-9-4) leading their five-team group.
On Tuesday, the Whale defeated the Albany Devils 3-2 on a two-goal effort by Andre Deveaux, and a 35-saves outing by goaltender Cam Talbot, who earned his eighth win of the year. Kris Newbury also starred in the game, scoring once and adding two helpers. Rookie forward Jonathan Audy-Marchessault continued his strong first-season by recording two assists in the game, improving his season statistics to 28 points in 31 games—a team leading number. Both Deveaux and Newbury scored their 10th goals of the season, joining Audy-Marchessault as the only Whale skaters to have double-digit goal totals so far in the 2011-12 campaign.
Jeff Prough, who is in his third week with the Whale after joining the team on a recall from the Greenville Road Warriors (ECHL) on December 14, was the only healthy-scratch for the Whale on Tuesday. The game before, it was rookie Scott Tanski who watched from the stands as a healthy-scratch. With 13 healthy-forwards on the roster—Mats Zuccarello will make it 14 when he returns from his lower-body injury, but his comeback is not expected to be made in Worcester—one forward will have to sit-out again tomorrow.
On defense, the Whale added rookie Tim Erixon today on a demotion by the New York Rangers. Erixon has 12 points in 14 games with the Whale this season, and will likely be in the line-up Friday night. His addition will force one blueliner out of the line-up, as there are seven healthy—eight when Wade Redden returns from his lower-body injury and his comeback date is unknown—on the roster. One of Sam Klassen or Lee Baldwin could be re-assigned to Greenville before the game, unless one more line-up spot is available.
Talbot will likely start in goal again tomorrow, with Chad Johnson unlikely to play this weekend due to Family matter. The Whale has recalled Jason Missiaen, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound, rookie goaltender, as a back-up.
Connecticut enters the game with the 5th best power-play in the league, at 21-percent. Their penalty-killing is ninth-best at 83.4-percent. The Sharks PK sits right behind the Whale in 10th place, with a 82.9-percent success-rate. Worcester’s power-play is 21st in the league at 16.9-percent.
The Sharks enters the game on a two-game win-streak which includes a 3-2 overtime win over Portland and a 3-1 win over Manchester. They have also won seven of their last 10 games, and have points in eight of them.
Worcester’s leading scorer, with 21 points in 29 games, is John McCarthy. Tommy Wingels is No.2 on the team with 20 points in 26 games, followed by Matt Irwin and Sean Sullivan who have 16 points. Their goaltenders are rookies Tyson Sexsmith, who started against the Whale in October, and Harri Sateri .
Pregame notes
.the Whale has several players entering the game with streaks on the line: Deveaux has a three-game goal-streak and four-game point-streak, Newbury a five-game point-streak, and the teams’ power-play has goals in three straight and six tallies in the past five games.
.Erixon will only improve the Whale’s streaking special teams, but he will be forced to play with a new teammate as Stu Bickel is still on a recall with the Rangers’.
.Friday’s game will be the first of three that the Whale will play in the next four days. It will also be their final road game of the year 2011, followed by their final home game in 2011 on Saturday against the Springfield Falcons. They will open 2012 with two road games, followed by a home game ironically against Springfield in the first week.
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