Whalers Snatch Victory From Jaws of Defeat, Beat Saginaw, 3-2

Photo by Mandy Getschman - Victor Crus Rydberg scores the game-winning goal Monday in the Whalers’ 3-2 win over Saginaw.

The Plymouth Whalers snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat on Monday. And in doing so, kept their playoff hopes alive.

Showing determination, grit and good goaltending from Alex Nedeljkovic, the Whalers rebounded from a 2-0 deficit with three unanswered goals in the third period to defeat Saginaw, 3-2, on Monday afternoon at Compuware Arena.

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Coupled with Plymouth’s 7-1 win over Sudbury on Saturday, the Whalers are now 15-24-2-1, good for 33 points and seven points behind Saginaw (19-22-1-1) for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference race.

First star Victor Crus Rydberg started and finished the Whalers comeback, with his second goal of the game coming at 6:52 of the third period to snap a 2-2 tie.

Earlier, Saginaw built a 2-0 lead on a first period goal by Vladislav Kodola (4th) and a third period goal by Artem Artemov (10th).

But Crus Rydberg started the comeback at 3:47 of the third period, skating wide right wing and snapping a shot from the severe angle right wing that deflected off Saginaw defenseman Jacob Ringuette’s stick and over the shoulder of Spirit goaltender David Ovsjannikov.

1:20 later, a delayed penalty was coming to Saginaw, but it didn’t matter when Mathew Campagma wired a shot from the right hashmark for his 14th goal the season at 5:07.

Crus Rydberg finished the comeback, moving into Saginaw territory with Connor Chatham. Chatham skated wide along the right boards and fed Crus Rydberg breaking to the net. He worked ahead of Saginaw defender Connor Brown and redirected a backhand shot past Ovsjannikov for Plymouth’s first lead of the game at 6:52.

Although the Whalers kept coming – and Will Bitten missed on a wide open net later in the period – the issue wasn’t decided until the final minute.

With 58.9 seconds left, a faceoff in the Plymouth zone and the Whalers leading, 3-2, Saginaw head coach Greg Gilbert pulled goaltender Ovsjannikov for the extra attacker.

Nedeljkovic made excellent stops in the final minute on Saginaw’s Dylan Sadowy, Tye Felhaber and Mitchell Stephens as Saginaw crashed the Plymouth goal.

Crus Rydberg did his part in the final 2.7 seconds, winning a faceoff to Nedeljkovic’s right by directing the puck to the right corner and taking off the rest of the time. Earlier in the final minute, Brown beat Crus Rydberg on a draw, but Crus Rydberg won the faceoff when it counted the most.

Nedeljkovic’s best stop of the game – and maybe his best stop of the year – came in the late stages of the second period when he absolutely robbed Devon Paliani with a right toe save with the Plymouth net wide open in front of Paliani.

“The bench went crazy,” said Whalers’ general manager Mark Craig, who Monday coached the team in the absence of suspended head coach Don Elland. “You saw the guys stand up and I don’t think they sat down the rest of the game. Amazing what a good goaltender can do with a great stop and how it can turn the game for you.”

Plymouth took the game over in the third period, outshooting Saginaw, 20-10.

Plymouth and Saginaw meet six more times before the end of the regular season. If today’s game is an indication the OHL Playoffs have already started between the Whalers and the Spirit.

The Whalers are back in action on Friday in Niagara (7 pm, 88.1FM WSDP) and return home Saturday to host Guelph at 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena (7 pm, CN-900 and 88.1FM WSDP).