That's The Trick - Whalers Roll on Kids Day, 6-1

Audio courtesy of Pete Krupsky and www.plymouthwhalers.com

Alex Aleardi scored three goals and two assists, linemate Jamie Devane scored a goal and two assists and Stefan Noesen scored two goals as the Plymouth Whalers defeated the London Knights, 6-1, in an Ontario Hockey League game played before 3,254 Wednesday afternoon on Kid's Day at .

Today's game featured the two top teams in the Ontario Hockey League with both teams having several players away at the World Junior Championships and World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.  Plymouth (now 23-9-2-1, 49 points) moved to within two points of London (25-7-0-1, 51 points) at the top of Western Conference standings.  The Whalers continue to lead the West Division and are now six points ahead of Sarnia (19-11-1-4, 43 points).

Plymouth goaltender Matt Mahalak stopped 36-of-37 shots to lower his goals against average to 2.04 and raise his save percentage to 0.937.  Mahalak is second in the OHL in both catagories and has a 10-4-0-0 won-loss record.

Aleardi now has 20 goals this season, Noesen 13 and Devane 10. The Whalers have eight players who have scored 10 goals or more this season - Aleardi (20), Rickard Rakell (17), Mitchell Heard (16), Garrett Meurs (15), J.T. Miller and Noesen (13 each), Andy Bathgate (12) and Devane (10).

Jared Knight scored the lone London goal, his 17th of the year.

Plymouth also won the battle of special teams, killing off all six London power plays while going 2-for-4 on its own power play.

Plymouth got rolling early and Aleardi's speed gave the Whalers a 1-0 lead at 4:40 of the first period.  On a delayed London penalty, Aleardi accepted a pass from Devane, cut to the left at the side of the London goal and moved diagonally to his right to stuff the puck past Knights goaltender Michael Houser.

The Whalers took a 2-0 lead at 7:56 of the first period on a good fundamental play.  Bathgate won a faceoff in the London zone and Aleardi found defenseman Curtis Crombeen at the right point. Devane redirected Crombeen's shot past Houser.

Plymouth led, 2-0, after one period.

Knight - who had the hat trick for London in a 6-3 win at Compuware Arena on Oct. 1 - cut the Whalers lead to 2-1 at 1:18 of the second period, snapping a severe angle shot from the lower rim of the right circle over Mahalak's shoulder.  But Aleardi came right back 16 seconds later to restore the Plymouth lead to 3-1. 

Aleardi scored his hat trick goal at 10:33 of the period, with Colin MacDonald making a crisp pass out of the Plymouth zone to neutral territory to Michael Whaley.  Whaley found Aleardi breaking into the London zone, who made no mistake on a backhand shot, top shelf, to give the Whalers a 4-1 lead.

Noesen got into the scoring, connecting well on a give-and-go with Tom Wilson to extend the Plymouth lead to 5-1 on the power play at 14:18.  Wilson (in the right corner in the London zone) found Noesen at the hashmarks, who buried the shot.

Plymouth led, 5-1, after forty minutes.

The Whalers finished the scoring in the third period, as Austin Levi's point shot went intentionally wide of the London goal and Noesen played the carom off the back boards to score at 8:22.

London outshot Plymouth, 37-30, largely on an 18-5 shots-on-goal advantage after the game was decided.

Plymouth remains home on Friday night, hosting the Saginaw Spirit (14-18-0-2) at 7:05 p.m. at Compuware Arena (6:45 p.m., WSDP-FM, 88.1).