Plymouth Whalers Lose a 4-2 Heartbreaker in Saginaw

Photo by Keith Dotson - Plymouth’s Connor Chatham (white jersey, 11) scored Thursday night in Saginaw.

SAGINAW – Tye Felhaber’s goal at 9:51 of the third period snapped 2-2 tie and the Saginaw Spirit defeated the Plymouth Whalers, 4-2, in an Ontario Hockey League game played Thursday before 2,318 at Dow Event Centre.

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The loss is a heartbreaker for the Whalers (now 15-27-2-1, 33 points), as Plymouth is 13 points behind Saginaw for the eighth and final playoff seeding in the Western Conference. Saginaw is now 22-23-1-1, good for 46 points.

Equally painful is the fact the Whalers fought back from a 2-0 deficit with a power play goals by Connor Chatham (his 10th) at 18:48 of the second period and Will Bitten (10th) at 8:00 of the third period to tie the game at 2-2.

But Felhaber restored the Saginaw lead with his 11th of the season 1:51 later, set up by Devon Paliani and Kris Bennett. Felhaber was all alone at the hashmarks and beat Plymouth goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic with the shot.

Dylan Sadowy added an empty net goal for Saginaw with 18.6 seconds left after Spirit defenseman Chase Stewart was whistled for interference with 30.2 seconds remaining. With a faceoff in the Saginaw zone, Plymouth head coach Don Elland called a time-out, set strategy and pulled Nedeljkovic for a six-on-four power play.

But Sadowy was able to work the puck through neutral territory and pursued into the Plymouth zone to score on the empty net.

The first period was scoreless and evenly played with each team recording 8 shots. Plymouth had a 7-1 edge over the first half of the period, based on a couple of power plays. Saginaw rebounded over the second half of the period, but the game was scoreless after twenty minutes.

Mitchell Stephens opened the scoring on a Spirit power play at 1:49 of the second period with his 17th of the year. Defenseman Jacob Ringuette started the play at the high slot and found Stephens at the lower rim of the left circle. Stephens skated to the left hash mark, waited, and ripped the puck in.

Sadowy’s speed set up Saginaw’s second goal, scored by defenseman Keaton Middleton at 10:24 of the second period to give the Spirit a 2-0 lead. Sadowy skated with speed on the right wing into the Plymouth zone, went to the net and fed the puck in front. Middleton followed the play and scored on a redirect as Nedeljkovc got a piece of the deflection but not all of it.

Plymouth fought back on the power play. Chatham – who had several other good scoring chances – cut the Saginaw lead to 2-1 at 18:48 d the second period, set up directly in front of the Spirit net on passes by Sonny Milano and Will Bitten and scoring on a quick shot past Evan Cormier.

The Whalers tied the game at 2-2 at 8:00 of the third period on Bitten’s back door goal on the left side of the Saginaw net. Ryan Moore started the play and found defenseman Mitch Jones at right side of the Spirit goal. Jones’ redirect was stopped by Cormier, but Bitten batted home the rebound at the left post.

That set the stage for Felhaber’s game-winner and Sadowy’s insurance goal.

Plymouth is home the rest of the weekend, hosting Belleville on Friday and Windsor on Saturday at Compuware Arena. Both games start at 7:05 pm.