Sound bytes by Pete Krupsky and www.plymouthwhalers.com.
WINDSOR - The Plymouth Whalers built a 5-0 lead into the second period and went on to defeat the Windsor Spitfires, 5-3, in an Ontario Hockey League preseason game played Monday afternoon at Windsor Family Credit Union Centre.
After beating Windsor, 3-0, on last Saturday in Wyandotte, Plymouth is now 2-0 in preseason. Windsor is 0-2.
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Garrett Meurs led the Whalers attack with a pair of goals, his first two goals of the preseason. Ryan Hartman and Mitch Jones scored a goal and an assist each, while Stefan Noesen added a single goal.
Goaltender Riley Corbin stopped all 13 shots he faced through the first half of the game for Whalers. Alex Nedeljkovic made his Plymouth debut in goal and stopped 13-of-16 Windsor shots over the final 31:21 of the game.
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Plymouth led, 2-0 after one period and 5-1 after forty minutes. The Whalers dominated the game at times, especially over the first two periods.
Hartman got the scoring started at 0:09 of the first period, accepting Tom Wilson's pass from the right circle in the Windsor zone and snapping the shot past Spitfires starting goaltender Jaroslav Pavelka.
AUDIO: Listen to the Hartman goal.
Much like Saturday night, the Whalers won the battle of special teams on Monday and killed off a 5-on-3 Windsor power play halfway through the first period. Later in the period, Meurs scored on the power play - popping the water bottle - to give Plymouth a 2-0 lead at 17:44.
AUDIO: Listen to the Meurs goal.
The Whalers pulled away in the second period, ouushooting Windsor, 20-7 and increasing their lead to 5-0 in the process. Jones scored another earlier goal to give Plymouth a 3-0 lead at 0:25 when he followed Hartman into the Windsor zone and scored on a backhand from the left hash mark. Hartman set up the play originally, blocking Kerby Rychel's shot in the Plymouth zone.
AUDIO: Listen to the Jones goal.
Later in the period, Plymouth went to work again on the power play to pull ahead for good, receiving goals from Meurs at 8:15 (shot from the right circle) and Noesen at 11:13 (shot from the left hashmark).
AUDIO: Listen to Meurs' second goal.
AUDIO: Listen to Noesen's goal.
In all, Plymouth went 3-for-5 in the power play while going 5-for-6 on the penalty kill.
Windsor came back to cut the lead to 5-3, led by first round pick Josh Ho-Sang and Kerby Rychel, who scored a goal and two assists each. Michael Clarke scored the other Windsor goal.
Plymouth outshot Windsor, 44-29. The Whalers finish the preseason with a pair of games against London - Friday night in London and Saturday night in St. Thomas, Ontario.
