Senators blank Whale

March 9, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


Binghamton, NY - Nathan Lawson made 34 saves for his first shutout of the season, and Fredrik Claesson's goal only 56 seconds into the game turned out to be the winner, as the Binghamton Senators defeated the Connecticut Whale 3-0 Friday night at the Broome County Arena.

The loss dropped the Whale (27-24-5-3, 62 pts.) into a tie with the Manchester Monarchs for the eighth-and-final playoff spot in the AHL's Eastern Conference.

"I thought the effort was wanting in some areas," Whale head coach Ken Gernander said. "I thought we were slow with our decision-making, we didn't get enough pucks deep and have a willingness to forecheck, so consequently we didn't generate much offense, despite [34] shots."

Chris Wideman also scored for Binghamton, and Wacey Hamilton added an empty-net goal. Cam Talbot made 35 saves in the Whale net.

Claesson's goal at the 56-second mark of the first period was his second of his rookie season. Jean-Gabriel Pageau worked the puck off of the left-wing boards to Claesson at the middle of the blue line, and Claesson's long slapshot beat Talbot low to the stick side, going off the inside of the goalpost and into the net.

That was the only offense in the game until the final 2:39 of the third period, in which the Senators tacked on two more goals in a span of 48 seconds, to put the game away.

Wideman scored his first pro goal at 17:21 of the third, after Blake Parlett had blocked a shot at the right side of the slot. The puck caromed to Wideman at the top of the left circle, and he was able to squeeze a shot underneath a sliding Talbot's pads.

Hamilton then iced the game at 18:08, after the Whale had pulled Talbot for an extra attacker. Hamilton was able to grab a loose puck in front of the Whale bench and roll it into the empty net from outside the blue line.

The loss was only the Whale's third in regulation it its last 13 games (7-3-1-2) and the fourth in the last 18 (10-4-2-2).

The Whale continue a three-game road weekend Saturday night at Adirondack. Faceoff at the Glens Falls Civic Center is 7:00 PM, and all of the action of that game can be heard live on "The Rock" 106.9 WCCC, as well as on-line at www.ctwhale.com . Video streaming is available at www.ahllive.com .

The Whale's next home game is Saturday, March 16 against the Manchester Monarchs at 7:00 PM. 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.



American Hockey League Stories from March 9, 2013


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