A Good Start - Plymouth Blanks London, 5-0, on Friday

HOME OPENER - Plymouth hosts Erie on Saturday in the home opener at 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena.

LONDON, ON - The Plymouth Whalers exploded for three unanswered goals in the second period to extend a 1-0 lead to 4-0, and the Whalers defeated the London Knights, 5-0, in the season opener for both teams played Friday night at Budweiser Gardens in London.

GAME SUMMARY

ADDITONAL COVERAGE - Ryan Pyette, London Free Press.

The customary sellout of 9,046 in London started leaving midway through the third period with the Whalers in control of the game.

Plymouth received a balanced offensive attack from four lines. New York Islander draft Victor Crus Rydberg earned the first star with a goal and three assists. Newcomer Mathew Campagna (in photo) earned the game’s second star with two goals. Josh Wesley and Liam Dunda scored the other Plymouth goals.

Dunda has scored in two straight regular season games spanning two seasons. He scored his first Ontario Hockey League goal in Plymouth’s last regular season game last year on Mar. 15, 2014 in a 5-1 win over Windsor at Compuware Arena.

New Jersey Devils draft Connor Chatham and Plymouth captain Alex Peters (Dallas) recorded two assists each.

Plymouth goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic recorded his fourth career shutout as the game’s third star with 28 saves. A young London team didn’t test the current OHL Goaltender of the Year much.

Nedeljkovic’s best stop came six minutes into the third period when veteran overage Matt Rupert was set up three feet outside the Plymouth blue crease. Rupert got the shot off quickly, but Nedeljkovic held his blue ice with superior positioning and made the save look easy. It wasn’t.

The Whalers won the special team games decisively, going two-for-nine on the power play while killing off all four London power plays.

An older, more experience Plymouth team got stronger as the game wore on. On one penalty kill, veteran Whalers right wing Connor Sills held the puck deep in the London zone against three and then four Knights for a good thirty seconds. Plymouth started to win battles for pucks from the second period on and were never threatened for that point.

“It took us a little while to get going,” said Plymouth general manager Mark Craig. “It’s our first game of the season, playing before a sellout crowd on a Friday night in London. (Overall), I was pleased with the effort. It was a good road win tonight.”

“I thought we made some mistakes, but we played hard,” said Plymouth head coach Don Elland. “We won on the road and we got two points.

“We still have a long way to go. I thought we were a little slow in the beginning, and then we started to get in on the forecheck and started to lean on them a little bit. They’re a young team. The longer the game went on (the forecheck) started to pay off.”

The Whalers took a 1-0 lead at 17:10 of the first period with a well-executed power play goal. Crus Rydberg started the play on the left wing in the London zone and found Chatham at the left goal line. Chatham saw Wesley breaking in from the right point to the right post and feathered the pass across. Wesley snapped the shot by London rookie goaltender Tyler Parsons.

The Whalers pulled away for good in the second period. Campagna – showing a veteran presence - scored twice (at 8:39 and 18:12 respectively) to give Plymouth a 3-0 lead. His first goal came on a four-on-three power play the Whalers worked the puck to the high slot. Campagna scored through traffic and a Francesco Vilardi screen to give Plymouth a 2-0 lead.

Later in the period, Campagna broke in on a partial two-on-one with Matt Mistele and shot instead of passing, beating Parsons with the drive inside the right post.

Crus Rydbreg kept the momentum rolling, following up a rebound though traffic in front of the London goal, cut to his right, hesitated and then buried the shot at 19:14 to give Plymouth at 4-0 lead after forty minutes.

Crus Rydberg set up Dunda for the lone goal of the third period. Dunda accepted Crus Rydberg’s cross-ice pass at the top of the right circle in the London zone, move to the right dot and buried the shot.

Plymouth outshot London, 39-28.

Plymouth scratches included Alex Di Carlo, Nicholas Caamano and Brook Hiddink (healthy), Yannick Rathgeb (suspended) and Sonny Milano (Columbus).

London scratches included Max Domi (Phoenix), Michael McCarron (Montreal), Bo Horvat (Vancouver), Nikita Zadorov (Buffalo), Mitchell Kreis, Danii Miromanov, Ryan Valentini, Josh Defarias, Chris Martenet, and Zach Grzelewski.