Whalers' Depth The Difference in 4-1 Win over Sarnia

PLYMOUTH – In an Ontario Hockey League game played Saturday night between the Plymouth Whalers and Sarnia Sting at , the Sting featured a lineup that had as many forwards (nine) as scratched players and six defensemen.

The Whalers featured their normal lineup of 12 forwards (including five National Hockey League drafts) and six defensemen.

The result? It took a little time, but the Plymouth’s depth came through in a 4-1 win over Sarnia.

Plymouth’s NHL-drafts led the way in the Whalers fourth straight win (and 12th of their last 14 games) to improve to 21-8-2-1, good for 45 points and first place in the OHL's West Division. The Whalers are now six points up on second-place Sarnia (now 17-9-1-4, 39 points). They gained ground on idle London (23-6-0-1, 47 points) as the top team in the Western Conference.

VIDEO - See the highlights of tonight's game as supplied by plymouthwhalers.com.

Garrett Meurs' goal at 10:27 of the second period snapped a 1-1 tie for Plymouth and the Whalers never look back from that point on, getting stronger as the game progressed.

Meurs – the game's first star and a Colorado Avalanche draft – scored twice and now has 15 goals on the season. Stefan Noesen (first round, Ottawa) scored his 10th of the year and J.T. Miller (first round, New York Rangers) added his 13th of the season all for the Whalers. Matt Mahalak (Carolina) stopped 32-of-33 shots for Plymouth to run his record to 8-3-0-0.

Taylor Carnevale scored his sixth goal of the year for Sarnia.

Sarnia had an edge in play through the first half of the first period, due largely to Plymouth penalties that led to two power plays. But the Sting didn’t score, and the Whalers cashed in on one of their first good scoring chances of the game to take a 1-0 lead at 11:02 of the period.

Dario Trutmann’s shot in the high slot in the Sarnia zone was blocked, but the puck pinballed to Noesen, who skated from the left hashmark, cut to his right and scored top-shelf, on Sarnia goaltender Brandon Maxwell for the only goal of the first period.

Sarnia tied the game at 1-1 at 7:46 of the second period on a five-on-three power play. Carnevale – who started his career with the Whalers in 2007-08 – snapped a shot from the top of the left circle for his sixth goal of the season.

But the Whalers’ depth started to take the game over with sustained pressure in the Sarnia zone. Meurs eventual game-winner was set up by Miller, who took a shot in the slot that was blocked, but the puck caromed right back to him. Miller found Meurs on the right wing lip of the crease and he tapped the puck home to give Plymouth a 2-1 lead at 10:27 of the second period.

“Miller let go a bomb that was blocked, but he (Miller) stayed with it and gave it right to me,” Meurs said. “It was a hard pass and I just tried to deflect it. Miller’s got great vision and makes passes like that all the time."

Plymouth outshot Sarnia, 20-9, in the second period and Meurs talked about how the Whalers turned the game in their favor.

“We were skating hard and winning battles in their end,” he said. “We had the puck in their end nearly the whole second period.”

The Whalers depth and balance in the third period has been a factor all year (Plymouth enjoys 42-24 goal differential in the third period) and the Whalers scored two unanswered goals in the third period tonight to seal the win.

On a Sarnia power play, Meurs intercepted a loose clearing pass from Maxwell in the slot and scored an unassisted goal on a back hand at 4:37 to give Plymouth a 3-1 lead.

The Whalers closed the scoring at 9:37 that was finished by Miller but set up by linemates Mitchell Heard and Tom Wilson, who both delivered checks on Sarnia defenders to win one-on-one battles for the puck. Miller scored on a back hand from the right hashmark for his second marker in two games.

Meurs was asked about the Whalers good work this year in the third period.

“It all starts in practice,” he said. “We work hard in practice to stay in shape, so when it comes to the third period, we’re able to keep going. We say in the dressing room all the time that good teams win the third period. That’s what we try to do.”

Plymouth finishes up the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule next Friday in Oshawa and Saturday in Belleville. The Whalers next home game is Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 2 p.m., against London.

DOUBLE FIGURES and BALANCE: Noesen’s goal give him 10 for the year and the Whalers now have seven forward who have scored in double figures – Rickard Rakell, Mitchell Heard and Alex Aleardi (all with 16), Garrett Meurs (15), J.T. Miller (13) and Andy Bathgate and Noesen with 10 each.

Likewise, Miller leads the Whalers with 39 points, but six other forwards have at least 26 points; Rakell (16-20-36); Noesen (10-21-31); Heard (16-15-31); Meurs (15-14-29), Bathgate (10-17-27) and Aleardi (16-10-26).