Whalers' Winning Road Show Continues in 4-1 Victory in Saginaw

SAGINAW – Plymouth goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 27-of-28 shots as the game’s first star, and the Whalers showed a balanced offensive attack in defeating the Saginaw Spirit, 4-1, on Tuesday morning at Dow Event Center before 5,527 in Saginaw.

The Whalers have won four games in a row (and 12 out of 13) to improve to 38-17-5-4, good for 85 points and first place in the Ontario Hockey League’s West Division.   Saginaw is now 29-27-3-3, good for 64 points for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference race.  The Spirit have lost four games in a row.

The game - played at 10:45 am - is Saginaw's annual Education Day Game, where school children from all around the Saginaw-region attend the game as a field trip.  But an older, more experienced Plymouth team took the crowd out of the game.  The crowd's biggest cheer came during a dance-off among teachers and students during the second intermission.  Fans starting leaving the game with five minutes left in regulation and Plymouth in control with a 4-1 lead.

Former Spirit captain Vince Trocheck scored his 47th goal of the year for Plymouth and added an assist.  Trocheck now has 47 points and 53 assists for 100 points on the season and is second in the league scoring race behind Sarnia’s Charles Sarault (102 points). 

Matt Mistele (32), Tom Wilson (23) and third star Mitchell Heard (12) also scored for the Whalers, who led, 2-0, after one period and, 3-1, after forty minutes.

Nedeljkovic lowered his goals against average 2.11, raised his save percentage to 0.928 and has an impressive 17-2-1-1 won-loss record.  After the game, Nedeljkovic was named Vaughan CHL Goaltender of the Week.

Second-star Andrey Alexeev scored the lone Saginaw goal in the second period, his eighth of the season.

Much as they have in most games since the Christmas Break, the Whalers controlled the pace and the flow of the game. Although Nedeljkovic and Heard were named stars, all 18 Plymouth skaters contributed towards a winning effort.  The Whalers constantly won one-on-one battles all over the ice against the younger Spirit.  In addition, the Plymouth penalty killers (now second in the OHL with an 84.3 success ratio) went five-for-five against the Saginaw power play.

Trocheck started the scoring at 6:34 of the first period to give the Whalers a 1-0 lead.  Stationed at the left goal-line, Trocheck shot the puck, severe-angle and the puck went off Saginaw goaltender Jake Paterson.

Mistele (who leads Plymouth with eight goals against Saginaw) gave Plymouth a 2-0 lead at 17:44 when he deflected Nick Malysa's shot from the right point past Paterson.

Plymouth outshot Saginaw, 11-10, in the first period.

Alexeev cut the Plymouth lead to 2-1 at 4:26 of the second period, snapping a shot from the left circle past Nedeljkovic.  Nedeljkovic's shotout streak was snapped at 123:47, going back to the 0:39 mark of the second period when Connor MacDavid scored in Erie last Friday.

(The longest shutout streak in Whalers' franchise history belongs to Rob Zepp, who put together a streak of 182:13 in games between Jan. 21-29, 2000.)

Plymouth took the game over from the that point.  Wilson (who leads the Whalers against Saginaw wityh five goals and eight assists for 13 points in six games), scored on a fine individual effort, stealing the puck from a Spirit players along the left-wing half-wall, skating hard to the hasmarks and scoring on a backhand in front of Paterson.

The Whalers outshot Saginaw, 16-8, in the second period.

Like Wilson, Heard scored on an excellent individual effort on a power play at 6:39 of the third period to give Plymouth a 4-1 lead.  Heard took the puck from a Saginaw defender in front of the penalty box area, skated to the Saginaw slot and snapped a hard shot from the right hash-mark past Paterson.

Trailing, 4-1, in the third period, Saginaw had a good opportunity to get back into the game when Trocheck was assessed a double minor at 10:08 of the third period.  But the Whalers penalty killers did an outstanding job and Saginaw never really threatened.

The Whalers – who have qualified for the OHL playoffs for a current league record of 22 consecutive years – outshot Saginaw, 34-28.

Plymouth is off until Sunday when they host Saginaw at 2 p.m. at Compuware Arena (2 p.m., Comcast 900).