First Shot Wins in Plymouth Whalers' 1-0 Victory in Windsor

Photo of Plymouth’s Connor Chatham and Windsor’s Trevor Murphy on Thursday courtesy of the Windsor Star.

WINDSOR - Danny Vanderwiel’s goal at 2:24 of the first period stood the rest of the way as the Plymouth Whalers defeated the Windsor Spitfires, 1-0, on Thursday night before 4,676 at Windsor Family Credit Union Centre.

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ADDITONAL COVERAGE - Jim Parker, Windsor Star.

Vanderwiel’s goal came on Plymouth’s first shot of the game. The Whalers punched the time clock well and put on a gritty, determined effort for sixty minutes.

Whalers goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped all 30 shots he faced to record his second shutout of the season and fifth of his career.

Nedeljkovic received plenty of help from his Plymouth teammates. Tonight’s Whalers victory was a result of a total team effort, from Nedeljkovic, to the skaters in front of him, to the coaching staff.

“We were short guys, so some of the others stepped up big-time,” said Plymouth assistant coach John Vigilante. “We kept it simple and won a lot of individual battles. A lot of our guys were warriors tonight.”

Plymouth concludes a tough stretch of their schedule in playing eight of its first 11 games on the road. The Whalers improve to 5-5-1-0. Windsor is now 3-6-1-0.

The Whalers played in the game with five defensemen, with Alex Peters injured and Gianluca Curcuruto and Mitch Jones suspended. The remaining five defensemen – Josh Wesley, Yannick Rathgeb, Mathieu Henderson, Alex Di Carlo and Tyler Sensky – were excellent against Windsor, with Rathgeb, Sensky and Di Carlo perhaps playing their best game in a Plymouth uniform.

All five defensemen earned their ice time.

Vanderwiel’s goal was started by Victor Crus Rydberg, who carried the puck on the right wing into the Windsor zone and found Will Bitten at the right goal line. Bitten threaded the pass to Vanderwiel, who redirected the puck through traffic and the Windsor blue ice past Windsor goaltender Alex Fotinos.

AUDIO - Listen to the goal.

And that was all the scoring Plymouth needed.

The Whalers penalty kill – last in the OHL at 72.9 percent – won the battle of special teams against Windsor’s 19th ranked power play. Plymouth went five-for-five on the penalty kill.

And the Whalers seemed to get stronger as the game wore on. Outshot, 25-14, through forty minutes, Plymouth outshot Windsor, 13-5 in the third frame.

Nedeljkovic was solid all night, with his best save coming at 6:56 of the third period when he stopped Ryan Moore in front after he was set up by Josh Ho-Sang. Nedeljkovic moved to his right to get a piece of Moore’s shot.

Vanderwiel nearly scored on an identical play as his first goal at the eight minute mark of the third period, but was stopped on the attempt by Fotinos.

Windsor head coach Bob Boughner pulled Fotinos for the extra attacker with 1:20 remaining, but the Whalers battled the rest of the way for a well-earned win.

Plymouth is home the rest of the weekend, hosting Mississauga on Friday and Kitchener on Saturday at Compuware Arena.

1-0: The last 1-0 Plymouth victory? Nov. 23, 2007 at Compuware Arena against Sault Ste. Marie. Joe Gaynor scored the goal; Jeremy Smith pitched the shtout.