Plymouth Whalers Battle Back, Earn a Point in Shootout Loss to Erie

Photo by Rena Laverty - Plymouth’s Will Bitten (white jersey) scored twice on Wednesday in Erie.

It was bitterly cold on the Ohio Turnpike on Tuesday afternoon when the Plymouth Whalers team bus paused at a rest stop on the way to Erie, PA.

“If we can just hold on for a little while longer,” said Whalers head coach Don Elland, hustling off the bus to look for a refreshment. “A win here, a point there, then get our guys back and we’ll be all right.”

Plymouth did just that in Erie on Wednesday, spotting the hometown Otters a 3-1 lead after the first period before battling back to tie the game at 3-3 in the third period and losing a shootout, 4-3, to Erie before 3,349 (mostly children) during Erie’s Education Day matinee.

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“It was a good point,” said Plymouth general manager Mark Craig after the game. “It’s something to build on.”

Plymouth is now 8-11-1-1. Erie improves to 17-3-0-1.

After Connor Sills scored his first goal of the season for the Whalers, Plymouth rookie Will Bitten took over the rest of the offense, scoring a goal in the second period to cut the Erie lead to 3-2 and then tying the game midway through the third period. Bitten has five goals this season.

And the Whalers came within a chime of extending the shootout. Plymouth veteran Mathew Campagna beat Erie goaltender Daniel Dekoning with his attempt, but his shot rang of the left post and stayed out of the net.

First star Nick Betz scored the only goal in shootout while adding two assists in regulation.

The first two goals of the game came on each’s team’s first shot. Darren Raddysh scored for the Otters from the right point at 2:57 and Sills scored for Plymouth at 4:36 with a drive from the left circle. Francesco Vilardi and Connor Chatham drew assists.

Then Dylan Strome – now Erie’s lead center and the OHL’s second leading scorer with Connor McDavid out with an injury – took the game over with a pair of goals later in the first period. The first came at 5:31 when a shot from the left hash mark; the second came at 8:48 on a scramble just past the Plymouth blue ice in traffic around Whalers goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.

Much like a baseball pitcher who gives up runs early and then finds a way to keep his team in the game, Nedeljkovic pitched a shutout the rest of the way through regulation and into overtime. As he does in most games, Nedeljkovic gave Plymouth a chance to win the game or at least gain a point.

Trailing, 3-1 after one period, the Whalers slowly worked themselves back into the game. Plymouth defenseman Tyler Sensky knocked down a clearing pass at the left point in the Erie zone to keep the play alive, which was finished when Bitten followed a loose puck through traffic in front of the Erie net to beat Dekoning with the shot at 1:57 of the second period.

The Whalers clicked on their seventh power play of the afternoon to tie the game at 3-3 at 7:53 of the third period. Mathieu Henderson – in the high slot in the Erie zone – found Mitch Jones at the lower rim of the right circle.  Jones fed the puck to the Otters’ blue ice. Bitten found the puck through a maze of bodies to score in tight and tie the game.

Erie threatened to take the lead again over the final six minutes of regulation, but the Whalers were able to force the game into overtime. Betz and Plymouth defenseman Mitch Jones – both from the Detroit area – had an excellent one-on-one battle through most of the afternoon.

So Plymouth got a point for their efforts with five regulars out of the lineup. Alex Peters, Liam Dunda, Victor Crus Rydberg and Danny Vanderwiel all remain out of the lineup with injuries and Gianluca Curcuruto returns from suspension on Saturday.

The Whalers got another break in their trip to Erie. While Buffalo, NY was pounded with five-feet of lake effect snow, Erie simply received a dusting, with perhaps no more than a half-inch on top of roughly two inches.

With one point secured, the Whalers hustled out of Erie and will play in Guelph on Friday (7:30 pm, 88.1FM WSDP) before returning home on Saturday to host Niagara at 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena (7 pm, 88.1FM WSDP).