Plymouth Whalers Close Out 2014 in Style, Beating Windsor, 6-4

Photo by Rena Laverty - Plymouth’s Matt Mistele was the game’s first star New Year’s Eve in Windsor.

WINDSOR - After losing to Sarnia on Sunday and Windsor yesterday, the Plymouth Whalers decided to ring out 2014 the right way on New Year’s Eve.

They earned a 6-4 victory over the Spitfires before 5,558 at Windsor Family Credit Union Centre.

SCORESHEET

Although the Whalers built 5-2 lead early in the third period, the issue wasn’t settled until Josh Wesley scored an empty net goal with 22 seconds remaining.

Plymouth improves to 12-21-2-1, good for 27 points and tied with Windsor (now 13-21-1-0) for ninth place in the Western Conference race. The Whalers and Spits are both seven points behind eighth-place Saginaw.

Besides Wesley’s empty-netter and his third of year, Plymouth spread it out offensively with five other players lighting the lamp – Mitch Jones (fourth), Vince Scognamiglio (fourth), Victor Crus Rydberg (fourth, plus two assists), Nicholas Caamano (second) and Connor Chatham (seventh).

In addition, Plymouth’s Matt Mistele was named the game’s first star with two assists and a +2 performance. The line of Caamamo (playing his best all-around game as a Whaler), Mistele and Crus Rydberg combined for two goals and five assists and +5.

Whalers goaltender Zack Bowman had some good moments, too, stopping 26-of-30 shots in recording his third win of the season.

On defense, Gianluca Curcuruto made his presence a positive one in playing his second game after sitting through suspension and injuries over 23 of 24 Plymouth games. It’s good to see veteran overage defenseman like Curcuruto and Sean Callaghan on the Whalers blue line during critical moments.

Liam Murray (third), Ryan Moore (fifth), Trevor Murphy (13th) and Cristiano DiGiancinto (12th) scored for Windsor.

Plymouth won the game with good fundamentals and winning battles for pucks all afternoon long.

The Whalers are looking to improve in all areas, and Plymouth centermen did a good job in the faceoff circle against Windsor. After Murray gave Windsor a 1-0 lead at 14:29 of the first period, Cullen Mercer won a faceoff in the Windsor zone and found Jones at the left point. Jones’ shot trickled through the pads of starting Spitfires goaltender Alex Fotinos to tie the game at one at 16:49.

Plymouth took their first lead of the game with a pair of goals in the second period. Working on a power play, Scognamiglio tipped Curcuruto’s low shot from the high slot past Fotinos at 0:28.

Mistele found Caamano breaking in on Fotinos at the lower rim of the left circle and the Plymouth rookie should excellent patience not to shoot and dished to Crus Rydberg in front of the blue paint for a re-direct/tap-in at 9:14 to give the Whalers a 3-1 lead.

After Moore cut the Plymouth lead to 3-2 at 13:50, Caamano - who started Plymouth pressure in the offensive with a hard check on a Windsor defender that did not draw a penalty (to the consternation of the Windsor crowd and the Spitfires) - finished the play, taking Mistele’s pass and scoring from the right circle 15:19.

The Whalers increased their lead to 5-2 at 0:33 of the third period on Chatham’s re-direct at the hashmark of Mathieu Henderson’s shot from the high slot. The goal was Chatham’s first since returning from injury on Sunday in Sarnia.

But nothing is easy in Windsor and the Spits came back on goals by Murphy at 4:15 and a partial breakaway by DiGiancinto at 14:13 to cut the Plymouth lead to 5-4.

Wesley’s empty-netter won’t garner the highlights his spectacular goal on Sept. 27 did, but was much more satisfying. Windsor never quit, but Plymouth battled through the pressure in the final minute.

If the Whalers are going to move up in the Western Conference race, they got off to a good start in playing the right way in Windsor on New Year’s Eve.

After playing their league-leading 21st game on the road, Plymouth will play eight of 11 games in January at Compuware Arena, starting Friday night at 7:05 pm against Saginaw (7 pm, 88.1FM WSDP).