Plymouth Whalers Win Eighth Straight, 7-3, Over Saginaw

The Plymouth Whalers spotted the Saginaw Spirit an early 2-0 lead and came roaring back to defeat Saginaw, 7-3, in an Ontario Hockey League game played Wednesday night at .

The Whalers won their eighth straight game and remain in first place with a record of 17-6-2-1, good for 37 points and first place in the West Division.  Plymouth is tied with London for the top seed in the Western Conference race, each with 37 points.  Saginaw is 8-15-0-2.

The eight-game winning streak is the longest for Plymouth since the 2006-07 season, when the Whalers won their last regular season game on Mar. 17, 2007 over Kitchener (3-2) and then won their first four playoff games against Guelph from Mar. 24-29 and then their first three playoff games against Kitchener from Apr. 6-10.

Video - See the highlight package

First star Stefan Noesen led Plymouth with two goals (7-8) and an assist.  His linemates chipped in as well - second star Rickard Rakell scored a goal (team-leading 15th) with two assists and Garrett Meurs scored a goal (9th) and was +3.  Alex Aleardi scored twice (13-14) and Mitchell Heard scored one (12th).

Saginaw took a 2-0 learly early in the first period, scoring a pair in 23 seconds - Garret Ross on a deflection at 4:14 (10th of the year) and Jamie Oleksiak (5th of the year at 4:37) with a shot from the left point.

But Plymouth started to cut into the lead.  Noesen scored his first at 9:55, cutting by a Saginaw defender at the right circle and potting a backhand by Saginaw goaltender Jake Paterson.  Rakell tied the game at 12:59 after Austin Levi's point shot was knocked done by a Saginaw defender, but caromed to Rakell, who made no mistake with the shot.  Noesen gave the Whalers their first lead of the game at 3-2 at 18:23 of the period on a power play, jamming at the puck through traffic on the left wing side of the goal until it went over the line.

The Whalers have scored a power play goal in nine straight games.

Plymoth kept coming in the second period.  Aleardi scored his first goal of the night at 5:44.  J.T. Miller did a lot of the work, winning battles deep in the Saginaw zone.  Aleardi picked up the puck at the right circle, cut to the hash marks and scored on a backhand to give Plymouth a 4-2 lead.

After Terry Trafford cut the Plymouth lead for Saginaw on a rebound at 6:29 of the period, Heard restored the two-goal lead at 8:54. Miller found Curtis Crombeen at the left point and his shot was knocked down at the left hash mark.  Heard has position on a Saginaw defender and scored, top-shelf.

Plymouth scored two unaswered goals in the third period - Meurs at 8:45 (deflection at 8:45) and Aleardi at 19:31 (set up in front of the net by Michael Whaley).

The Whalers remain at home Friday, hosting Peterborough at 7:05 p.m. at Compuware Arena (6:45 p.m., www.plymouthwhalers.com).

EXCELLENT BALANCE:  Rickard Rakell leads Plymouth in November with nine goals and eight assists for 17 points in 10 games and he has a lot of help.  Next is J.T. Miller (3-12=15), Stefan Noesen (6-8=14), Alex Aleardi (8-4=12), Andy Bathgate (5-6=11), Mitchell Heard (4-7=11), Beau Schmitz (4-6=10) and Garrett Meurs (5-4=9).

Plymouth goaltending has been excellent in November.  Scott Wedgewood has a 1.84 goals against average and 0.940 save percentage while going 6-0-0-1 in seven games in November; Matt Mahalak has a 1.99 goals against average and 0.939 save percentage while winning all three games.