Sellout Crowd at Compuware Arena Sees Plymouth Whalers Beat Kitchener, 4-3, in Overtime

Photo by Rena Laverty - Connor Chatham (white jersey, 11, behind the net) scores in overtime on Saturday to give the Whalers a 4-3 victory over Kitchener before a sellout crowd at Compuware Arena.

PLYMOUTH – Meet Plymouth Whalers right wing Connor Chatham and you’ll find a young man with a ready smile, quick wit and developing talent on the ice.

Chatham doesn’t seem to be a vengeful person.

But Chatham got a little payback Saturday night against the Kitchener Rangers, scoring the game-winning goal in at 3:41 of overtime to give the Whalers a 4-3 win before a sellout crowd of 3,577.

On the game-winner, Chatham moved from the left wing in the Kitchener zone to the lower rim of the left circle and beat Rangers goaltender Dawson Carty with a well-placed shot, inside the far post and underneath the cross-bar, popping the water bottle.

“I got a stride on the defenseman and caught the goaltender leaning,” Chatham said succinctly.

SCORESHEET

The Whalers won their second game in a row to improve to 8-9-1-0. Kitchener is now 9-3-1-3.

Here’s the back story with Chatham.

Two weeks ago, Kitchener defeated Plymouth, 5-3, at Compuware Arena and Chatham was in the middle of a lot. Chatham was clearly high-sticked in the face by Kitchener captain Liam Masskant in the Rangers blue crease area in the third period as Matt Mistele scored a goal to tie the game at 3-3 - with no penalty called.

Later in the game - to the delight of many Plymouth fans - Chatham put Maaskant directly into the Whalers bench and was called for a penalty.

So tonight’s win was a little more special for Chatham.

Besides Chatham’s winner and sixth of the year, Plymouth got a pair of first period goals from Matt Mistele (team-leading 13-14) and a single from Bryce Yetman (fourth). Sonny Milano added two assists for the Whalers.

Before Mistele’s pair in the first period, Plymouth penalty killers and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic did outstanding work in the game’s first 10 minutes, killing off penalties to Danny Vanderwiel. Nicholas Caamano and Mitch Jones. Kitchener outshot Plymouth, 9-1, in the sequence and Nedeljkovic was particularly sharp to keep the game scoreless.

In all, Nedeljkovic stopped 29-of-32 shots for Plymouth, while Dawson Carty stopped 30-of-34 shots for Kitchener in taking his first loss of the season in regulation.

Mistele’s first goal came at 11:53 of the first period, set up by Milano in the left corner. Milano found Mistele at the hashmarks with a backhand pass and Mistele got the shot off quickly. His second goal came at 16:12 when Mathew Campagna (at the high slot) found Mistele at the right circle and the LA Kings-draft ripped a one-timer past Carty.

Kitchener battled back to tie the game at 2-2 in the second period on goals by Nick Magyar (sixth) 10:52 and Brent Pedersen (fifth) at 19:20.

With the game tied at 2-2 after forty minutes, Yetman - who missed on a glorious opportunity at the left side of the Kitchener goal earlier - gave the Whalers a 3-2 lead, finding a loose puck through traffic outside the Rangers’ blue ice and scored, top-shelf, at 14:02.

Gustav Franzen tied the game at 3-3 for Kitchener at 16:41 of the third period, winning a face off in the Plymouth zone and driving to the net with a ton of traffic in front of Nedeljkovic.

That set the stage for Chatham’s goal in overtime.

MORE COVERAGE - Josh Brown, Kitchener-Waterloo Record. Josh Brown, Rangers Report.

Plymouth plays in Kitchener on Friday (7:20 pm. www.plymouthwhalers.com only) before returning home on Saturday to face Sault Ste. Marie at 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena.