The
Connecticut Whale kept their unbelievable run going as in the new year with
their new home jerseys they defeated the Providence Bruins 6-2. With the win the Whale have now won four
straight and are an amazing 14-2-0-3 in their last 19 which has vaulted them
all the way to second in the division, fourth in the conference. The fact that the Whale are continuing their
hot play despite losing two of their better players in Mats Zuccarello and Dale
Weise to call-ups shows just how far this team has come.
The
Whale would get on the board early behind Brodie Dupont and Kris Newbury
working a pretty give and go move where Dupont fed Newbury along the wall and
then streaked toward the net taking the return at the right wing circle and
firing it low stick side to make it 1-0 just 3:15 in.
Tim
Kennedy would continue his recent hot play by taking a feed from Devin
Didiomete and beating the goaltender short side at 16:08 of the first. The Bruins would answer quickly as just 1:11
later Lane MacDermid would fire a shot from the point that beat Cam Talbot high
glove after Andrew Bodnarchuk won the battle along the wall and fed the puck
back to the point. The Whale as they
have done so often in this hot run would answer back quickly as just 1:27 after
the Bruins cut it to 2-1 it would be Evgeny Grachev restoring the two goal
lead. On the play Chad Kolarik from
behind the Bruins net would feed the puck to a pinching Wade Redden who played
a short pass to Grachev in the slot and he would quickly flip it top shelf for
his fifth goal of the season. Grachev
certainly was not done; more on him at the end.
After the flurry of scoring to end the first
there would only be one tally in the second and it was by the Whale when Jeremy
Williams would tally his 19th of the season on the power play. On the play Wade Redden would have his
attempted point shot blocked and the puck would find Grachev in the high slot
who would play it back to Williams at the point who would fire it in at 4:05 of
the second to make it 4-1.
The Whale continued their push early in the
third with a goal from Justin Soryal and after the Bruins cut it to 5-2 on a
goal from Jordan Caron the Whale would cap the scoring at 16:48 on a goal from
the recently demoted Todd White. On the
goal Grachev would feed Jeremy Williams who wound up for the shot but instead
of shooting on the goal he played the shot pass perfectly off the stick of
White to make it 6-2.
Now on to Grachev personally, and to say that
the time Evgeny Grachev has spent in Hartford over the last two years has been
disappointing would be a vast understatement.
Following his tremendous season in Junior for the Brampton Battalion in
which he scored 40 goals and had 40 assists in just 60 games the world was
expected of the young Russian winger, but he has just not been able to put it
together yet in the professional ranks.
The labels like enigmatic and even bust have started to make their way
off the tongues of Rangers fans with more regularity and even relative ease,
but last night Grachev sent a reminder of what his talent is capable of doing
if you do not quit on him.
The most interesting thing I found was over
at Howlings,
where they do a great job of covering the Whale if you have not already found,
was the post-game quotes that talk about how the thing that has Grachev more
engaged right now is his use on the penalty kill. From the linked article:
“I’ve been getting more ice time playing PK (penalty kill), and that helped me stay in the game more,” said Grachev, whose fifth goal of the season was his first game-winner. “Before when we got penalties, you have to sit for awhile, it kind of takes you out of the game, but now I feel like I’m staying in the game more, once I get going I’m staying on the ice and it has helped me a lot. I feel more comfortable the more I play the more ice time I have.”
I have been as hard as anyone on Gernander early in the year but this is
exactly the kind of a move a young player like Grachev needs because the
biggest knock on him has been his focus so to make sure he is out there more
and keeping him engaged in the game will only be beneficial to him. Right now is a crucial chance for Grachev
with both Zuccarello and Weise who had moved in front of him on the Whale
roster up in NY he will get more opportunities as was seen with his power play
work today and if he continues to produce he will stay there even if other guys
return. The talent is most certainly
still in there so before you go giving up on it just yet let’s see if this kind
of game can spark more consistency out of Grachev.
