Three Potential Future Wolf Pack Skaters Ready for Memorial Cup

Not only does the parent New York Rangers’ Original Six series against the Boston Bruins start tonight, but the Memorial Cup, the championship of Canadian Major Junior hockey, gets underway Friday in Saskatoon Saskatchewan.

Three Ranger prospects will be playing in the Memorial Cup, and all three would be eligible to join the Wolf Pack next season.

Forwards Shane McColgan and Josh Nicholls will be helping to lead the host Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League up against defenseman Tommy Hughes’ London Knights (Ontario Hockey League).  The other two teams that have qualified for the tournament are the WHL-champion Portland Winterhawks and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s playoff champs, the Halifax Mooseheads.

Shane McColgan

Wolf Pack fans got a peek at McColgan last spring, when the 2011 fifth-round Ranger draftee played in five games with the Whale after the conclusion of his WHL season.  He is the only one of the three Ranger prospects at the Memorial Cup to have been drafted by the team, but is also the only one without a contract.  Both Nicholls and Hughes were inked to NHL free-agent contracts by the Rangers this spring.  This tournament represents somewhat of a last chance for McColgan to get a deal from the Rangers, too, as if he does not sign with New York before the end of this month, the Rangers will lose his rights and he will go back into the draft.

The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix quoted McColgan as saying, “It’s important for me individually to do my best and give my all in these games at the Memorial Cup.  A lot of guys don’t get this second opportunity.”

Nor do many guys get to compete for the Memorial Cup twice in their careers, as McColgan is doing.  He was also a member of a 2008-09 Kelowna Rockets team that got all the way to the Memorial Cup final before losing to the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires.

“When I was with Kelowna and we went to the Memorial Cup, around 12 or 13 guys signed contracts,” McColgan told the Star-Phoenix.  “It definitely helps.  Team success transfers over to individual (success) as well.”

The Blades will need to shake off some rust when the tourney starts.  Saskatoon has been out of action for seven weeks since being swept by the Medicine Hat Tigers in a first-round upset in the WHL playoffs.  The Blades were guaranteed a spot in the Memorial Cup by virtue of being the host team.

McColgan had his fourth straight 60-point year in the WHL this season, with 19 goals and 47 assists for 66 points in 69 games.

For McColgan’s teammate Nicholls, whose signing was announced by the Rangers March 5, this season was his overage year, meaning that he is out of Junior eligibility.  Unlike McColgan, for whom this year was his first in Saskatoon, Nicholls has spent his whole Junior career with the Blades and with 332 career games-played, is only five short of the all-time team record.  He also stands fifth all-time in Blades history in goals (138) and points (313).

“Obviously, I’ve accomplished a lot both team-wise and individually since I’ve been here ­— everything but winning some sort of championship,” Nicholls said to the Star-Phoenix.  “To be able to have this opportunity to host the Mem Cup is huge for myself and for the organization.  I’m really excited to get things going and hopefully have a successful tournament.”

Nicholls has good size, at 6-2 and 196 pounds, and finished third in the WHL in goals this year with 47, only two off the league lead.

In contrast to McColgan and Nicholls, who have been trying to find ways to stay sharp during a long layoff, Hughes is coming off of an intense, seven-game OHL championship series, which his Knights captured in dramatic fashion.  After going down 3-1 in the series to the Barrie Colts, London won three straight, and took Game Seven Monday night on a goal with one second left in regulation.  Wow!

Hughes, who is a London native and thus got a chance to play for his hometown OHL team, is another big guy, at 6-2 and 215 pounds.  He does not have much for offensive numbers, but is +47 in 123 games over the last two years and was +30 in 56 games two seasons ago.  The Knights, who are coached by former NHL mainstay Dale Hunter, have a fine record of producing pro players.  Ex-Knights currently in the NHL include Ranger defenseman Dan Girardi and Ottawa blueliner Marc Methot, and Hunter compared Hughes to those two accomplished defenders, in an April conversation with John Matisz of metronews.ca.

“He blocks shots, he’s fearless out there,” Hunter said of Hughes, who also was an overager this year. “He just kept getting better and better every year.

“He’s a very good skater. He’s fast. He stays in a crouch, which he should anyways, and he’s strong.”

Sounds like exactly the profile of defenseman that fits the Ranger mold, and if Hughes can be anything like Girardi, who was one of the great scouting finds in recent pro hockey history, then the Blueshirts will have uncovered another real hidden gem.

 

 

Back to the Pack

Fairly eventful 12 hours or so for the organ-eye-zation, as the Wolf Pack identity returns here in central Connecticut and the Rangers complete their first-round comeback against Washington, with an exclamation point of a 5-0 win in Game Seven.

It had been 899 days, by my count, since the November 27, 2010 re-branding of the Hartford Wolf Pack to the Connecticut Whale, and on day number 900, it was officially announced that the name of the team would be returning to the moniker that was used for the first 12 seasons, and 22 games, of the team’s existence.  Those 12-plus years included some great times, most notably the 2000 Calder Cup and a couple of other nice playoff runs, and the Wolf Pack name will always be linked, in my mind, to people such as Ken Gernander, the late E.J. McGuire, Jim Schoenfeld, Mike Busniuk, Derek Armstrong, Brad Smyth, Terry Virtue, John Paddock and the like.  Those are terrific guys and great hockey people, and all gave a lot of blood, sweat and tears to glorifying the Wolf Pack crest.  That was my initial, visceral reaction to the name change, along with wondering what the over-under is on how many times I’ll say Whale by mistake on the air when I mean Wolf Pack.  Hopefully not too old a dog to learn this new/familiar trick.

How about the Rangers breaking out for a five-spot in Game Seven, more than the total they scored in Games One, Two, Five and Six?  And with no points from Brad Richards and one assist from Rick Nash?

It was none other than Chris Kreider who made the play to set up what turned out to be the only goal the Rangers would need.  Skating on the fourth line with Richards and Arron Asham, Kreider made a neat little drop pass just inside the offensive zone to Asham, who scored his second goal of the series with a well-placed shot past Braden Holtby’s catching glove.  Kreider also had five hits in the game, second only to Ryan Callahan’s seven among Ranger forwards.  If Kreider, who is as solidly-built a guy as you are going to see, can take a page out of Callahan’s book and start finishing every available check, he is going to be awfully hard to play against, with the momentum he can generate with his speed.

Rangers Spreading out the Offense

Regular-season New York Rangers scoring leader Derek Stepan has game-winning goals in both of New York’s home wins in their now-tied first-round series with the Washington Capitals, but Rick Nash has one assist in the series’ four games, Brad Richards has one goal and Ryan Callahan has been held without a goal.

Other offensive sources have stepped up in a big way in the Rangers’ two home wins, though, allowing the parent club to battle back from a pair of series-opening losses in Washington, in which the offense was virtually non-existent.

Carl Hagelin, who had the only Ranger goal in the two road defeats, figured in three of the Rangers’ four goals in Wednesday’s 4-3 win in Game Four, striking for a goal and two assists, one of them a brilliant one-touch pass to set up Stepan’s winner.  Hagelin’s goal, meanwhile, was helped by a beautiful feed from Derick Brassard.  That was one of two helpers in the game for Brassard, who had never played in an NHL postseason game before this series, and made no impact in the first two games, but now leads the Rangers in playoff points with 1-4-5.

Carl Hagelin in action with the Whale early in 2011-12.

 

A little more quietly, Mats Zuccarello has three assists, including helpouts on both Ranger power-play goals in the series.  One of those was a huge early-third period goal, on which Brassard had the primary assist, by Dan Girardi Wednesday night, after the Blueshirts had coughed up a 2-0 lead in the second period, allowing Troy Brouwer to tie the game with only 17.1 seconds left in the frame.

“The first two games, I was a little bit nervous, but when I’m in my game, I make plays,” Brassard told the media after Game Four. “I just wanna take that game [into] Washington.”

Ranger head coach John Tortorella said of Brassard, “He’s grabbed a hold of it here and makes just a great play on Danny’s goal. He’s stepped in here to try and make a difference and he’s made some big plays for us. I’m not afraid to put him a lot of different positions in a lot of different situations.”

“I’m having fun,” Brassard said. “They showed a lot of confidence in me. I just try to help the team. I know I can bring some offense. We have a lot of talent on this team and that’s why I am really excited. We can do a lot of damage and I want to be part of it.”

The Rangers deserve credit, too, in Game Four for dominating some statistical categories that capture the “little things” in the game.  New York outhit the Capitals 38-20, won 34 faceoffs to Washington’s 19 and had 33 blocked shots (the Caps blocked 20).

One negative for the Rangers Wednesday was the fact that Marc Staal was a late scratch, after finally making his return from an eye injury in Game Three.  There was no indication during the day that Staal might not play, and you just cross your fingers that he has not suffered some sort of a setback, after a long battle to get back into the lineup.  New York clearly got a boost from his presence in Game Three, and although they played well without him Wednesday, I don’t think there’s any doubt that they are a better team with Staal in uniform, even if he isn’t at a hundred percent.

Back in the AHL, the Conference Semifinal round of the Calder Cup playoffs starts tonight, after regular season-champion Providence ended Hershey’s upset bid last night, with a 3-2 home win in Game Five of the last first-round series that had yet to be decided.  The Bears, who just nosed out the Whale for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference on the last day of the regular season, won the first two games of their matchup with the P-Bruins, but then went 0 for 3 in bids for the clincher.

So the Bruins move on to face Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in one Eastern Semifinal, while Syracuse and Springfield battle in the other.  Those should be two great series’.  There was one mild upset in the Western Conference, with fifth-seeded Oklahoma City ousting fourth-seeded Charlotte in the first round, but form held otherwise.  The Barons face the Texas Stars in one Western Semifinal matchup and it’s Toronto and Grand Rapids in the other.

Rangers Pull out Huge Win in Game Three

Home was where the goals were for the parent New York Rangers last night, as a Ranger team that had scored all of one goal in the first two games of its series with Washington broke out for four, in a possibly season-saving 4-3 victory at Madison Square Garden.

It was hardly a dominating performance, as during the parts of the game I had a chance to see the Rangers spent a ton of time in their own zone, and they killed off a late third-period Capital power play by the skin of their teeth as time ran out.  They did get timely scoring, though, outhit Washington 33-22 and were strong in one of their calling-card areas, blocked shots, with 19.

Marc Staal during his first pro experience, a 12-game stint with the Wolf Pack in the 2006 playoffs.

It had been widely speculated that Ryane Clowe might make his first playoff appearance with the Rangers in Game Three, and that did not happen, but what did is the return of Marc Staal, who hadn’t played since sustaining a serious eye injury March 5.  Thinking about the game beforehand, you figured that getting Clowe back might have been a big help for the struggling offense, and you’re not expecting Staal, even if he did play, to have a significant impact in that area.  As it turned out, though, the intangible effect of seeing a player like Staal, who is such a major part of the fabric of the club, finally back from such a scary injury seemed to have helped lift the whole team.

“It helps the room. He’s so respected in the room,” is how Ranger head coach John Tortorella explained it to the media after the game.  “This is two major injuries he’s come back from. Even before we step on the ice, I think that really helps your room. He’s just so well-liked.”

The winning goal came off the stick of Ranger regular season points leader Derek Stepan, who had been held off the scoresheet in the first two games.  That tally came at the 13:35 mark of the third period, after Washington had come back from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits to tie, and the play was started by a bit of a riverboat gamble by Stepan’s fellow former University of Wisconsin Badger, Ryan McDonagh.  He had the puck at the left point and instead of throwing it in deep, he dangled away from Alex Ovechkin, before working the puck to Mats Zuccarello in the corner.  Zuccarello then fed it to the opposite side to Rick Nash, who found Stepan in front for the finish.

If Ovechkin pokes the puck away there, he is likely gone the other way, and McDonagh’s boldness with the puck in that dangerous area had me just about screaming at the TV screen, “What are you doing?!”  It turned out to be a great play, though, and what a show of confidence by McDonagh, who was in the penalty box for delay of game when Mike Green scored in overtime to win Game Two for the Caps.  Shows you what I know, and shows you that McDonagh has the kind of moxie that great players have.  Not many guys would have the cojones to make that play, knowing that the coach is going to blow his top on them if it goes wrong, but McDonagh, whose career is still awfully young, did, and it led to the biggest goal so far of the Rangers’ season.

Stepan’s marker was one of two hard-battling Ranger scores in the third.  The other was rung up by Arron Asham, who ironically was the player rumored to be the prime candidate to be scratched if Clowe was able to play.  That might have brought up an interesting quandary for the Ranger coaching staff if Clowe was good to go for Game Four tomorrow night…whom would you take out of the lineup after such a big win?  Sounds like that is not going to be an issue, however, as Darroll Powe did not return to last night’s game after coming together with Washington’s Joel Ward in the first period, and the consensus among the media following the Rangers today was that he was likely out for Game Four.

Game Three Virtual Must-win for Rangers

The Rangers’ playoff future could hang on the outcome of tonight’s Game Three against Washington at Madison Square Garden.

If New York holds serve and wins, it’s a brand new series, after the Rangers lost a pair of tight ones down in D.C..  If the Caps win again, though, the parent club faces a nearly insurmountable three-games-to-none series deficit.

A definite plus for the Rangers is that they seem to be getting healthier.  Derek Dorsett finally made his Ranger debut in New York’s 1-0 overtime loss in Game Two, and Brian Boyle came back from an eight-game injury absence in that game too.  With those returns, Whale callups Kris Newbury and Chris Kreider were scratched from the Game Two lineup.

Now, media reports out of Gotham indicate that Ryane Clowe, who has been out since getting dinged up in the Rangers’ last regular-season game, might be ready to get back in uniform tonight.  Sounds like there is a chance that Marc Staal might play too, after having missed two months and 29 games recovering from the scary eye injury he sustained March 5 against Philadelphia.

The media’s reading of the tea leaves suggested that Arron Asham would be scratched if Clowe was able to go, but didn’t see any indication of who might possibly come out to make room for Staal.

Chris Kreider

Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News conjectured prior to the morning skate that Kreider might get a chance to get back into the lineup, with the Rangers’ offense having been largely stagnant in the first two games of the series and given his success in putting pucks in the net in last year’s playoffs.  That notion was scotched, though, when it turned out that Kreider was not at Madison Square Garden with the main group, but instead was skating with the extras at the Ranger practice facility.

If Clowe can indeed play, that should be a shot in the arm for the attack, and I thought Leonard elicited a significant statement from Derick Brassard that, “We can’t pass on any shots.”  From what I’ve seen of the first two games, it looks to me as though the Rangers haven’t had enough of a shooter’s mentality, especially on the power play.  They’re holding on to that puck an extra tick or two, allowing the Capitals and goaltender Braden Holtby to close whatever window might, or might not, have been there.  Seems like they have to forget about the pretty play and get more pucks at the net.

Awfully easy to say from my couch.

Ranger head coach John Tortorella’s “money quote” to the media today was, “I think we’re close.  I will put it to you that way.  It means squat if you don’t win.”

Rangers Fall to Caps in Game One

After a 7-2-0 run to end the regular season, the parent New York Rangers dropped their playoff opener Thursday, losing 3-1 at Washington.

The Blueshirts outshot the Caps 36-30, including 28-16 over the final 40 minutes, and scored first in the game, but could not recover from allowing two goals in a span of 46 seconds in the latter stages of the second period.  It was a strange game for Ranger netminder Henrik Lundqvist, who made several sharp saves on Washington power-play chances but allowed an uncharacteristic softie on the second of the two quick ones, a bad-angle heave off the boards by Jason Chimera.

Henrik Lundqvist in Game One at Washington (Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

“It was a really bad goal,” Lundqvist said of that critical score.  ““I’m very disappointed; I thought I had my pad there.

“It can’t happen, but it did.”

In the mind of Ranger head coach John Tortorella, penalties made the difference, particularly back-to-back minors to Taylor Pyatt (elbowing) and Arron Asham (illegal check to the head) early in the second period, when the Rangers led 1-0.  Washington’s Alex Ovechkin tied the game with Asham in the box.

“We can’t take that many penalties in the game,” Tortorella told the media after the game. “They did get a good bounce off the boards (on the tying goal). You can’t take two in a row. Hopefully, we’ll discipline ourselves next game.”

Kris Newbury, who skated on the fourth line with Darroll Powe and Asham, played a total of 5:24 in the game.  He got 25 seconds of power-play time in the second period, but then skated only one 15-second shift in the third, with the Rangers trying to work their way back from a two-goal deficit.

Game Two is an afternoon game Saturday at the Verizon Center in Washington, facing off at 12:30.  That tilt will be telecast on NBC.

Rangers Bring in Whale Reinforcements

With the NHL regular season now over, the Rangers have expanded their roster for the postseason, putting in a call for ten Whale mainstays to be playoff “black aces”, as the expression goes, for the big club.

Both Whale goaltenders, Cam Talbot and Jason Missiaen, two defensemen, Stu Bickel and Dylan McIlrath, and six forwards, Ryan Bourque, Micheal Haley, Brandon Mashinter, J.T. Miller, Brandon Segal and Christian Thomas, received summonses from the Rangers.

Cam Talbot and Kris Newbury

Those ten join Kris Newbury on the Ranger roster.  Newbury was recalled Thursday and played 8:59 in the Rangers’ regular-season finale, a 4-0 home win over New Jersey, Saturday.

Word out of New York is that Haley and Newbury will practice with the main Ranger group, while the rest of the callup guys will skate separately from the rest of the team, starting this afternoon at the Rangers’ MSG Training Center practice facility in Tarrytown, NY.  Ken Gernander and assistant coaches Jeff Beukeboom and Pat Boller will alternate running practices for the extra crew.

The Rangers, who grabbed the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket by winning eight out of their last ten games, will face the third-seeded Washington Capitals in the first round.  The Caps have the home-ice advantage, and Games One and Two are Thursday night and Saturday afternoon in D.C..

Newbury Gets the Call

Last night Kris Newbury became the first Whale player to be summoned by the Rangers since the end of Connecticut’s season.

Ryane Clowe got hurt in Thursday’s playoff-clinching, 4-3 Ranger overtime win at Carolina, and the Rangers were already short a forward, having to dress Matt Gilroy as a seventh defenseman last night with Arron Asham away from the team to be on hand for the birth of his new baby.

So Newbury goes up, after having led the Whale in points for a third straight season.  He is the second player in franchise history to top team scorers three consecutive years, duplicating Derek Armstrong’s feat doing so from 1998-99 through 2000-01.  Newbury’s point total of 62 this season was the second-highest of his pro career, surpassed only by the 64 he had for the Whale last year.

Sounds like Newbury will have a pretty good chance of getting into the lineup in Saturday afternoon’s regular-season finale for the Rangers, who host New Jersey on Saturday after pulling out two points in rousing fashion last night in Raleigh.

It was a real rollercoaster ride for the Blueshirts in the clincher, as New York blew a 2-0 second-period lead and committed a horrible defensive breakdown 49 seconds into the third period to allow the Hurricanes to take the lead, and then got a huge break to tie it back up with under three minutes left.

Carolina goaltender Dan Ellis actually kicked the puck into his own net on the tying score, after a power-play shot by Brad Richards went wide of the goal and richocheted off the end boards and back toward the front.

The Rangers then went on to win in overtime, with Captain Ryan Callahan beating Ellis with a shot, from almost the bottom of the left circle, to the far side.

As it turns out, the outcome would not have mattered anyway, as Winnipeg’s 4-2 home loss to Montreal would have put New York in the playoffs even if the Rangers hadn’t won.  Make no mistake about it, though, to go in the front door, so to speak, and not have to worry about what any other teams were doing, had the Rangers over the top with elation, as the photo of Callahan immediately after scoring the goal clearly illustrates.

Callahan said to the media after the game, “That’s one of the most exciting goals I’ve scored in my career,” and Henrik Lundqvist characterized the team’s feeling as, “Excitement, joy, relief. You’re proud. We’ve been working really hard to get in. It’s not easy to make the playoffs. Of course, your expectations are high. You see around the league. You have to work hard to get in. We should be proud of how we came together, especially the last three or four weeks.”

The Rangers still have plenty to play for Saturday, as they could finish as high as sixth or as low as eighth, but at least they can approach it without the sword of playing for their playoff lives dangling over their heads.

I would expect that a further group of Whale players will be tabbed to join Newbury on the Ranger roster as soon as the NHL regular season concludes.  Several guys have been continuing to practice on an informal basis hereabouts in anticipation of that.

Season Comes to a Disappointing End

Always sad to watch the ice melt at the XL Center, especially this early in the spring.

And geez, what can you say about an 0-5-1 streak to end the season?  Who saw that coming?

Actually, the ice is still in for now, as the players who will be joining the parent New York Rangers from the Whale will skate at the XL Center for a couple of days, until the big club gets back from Florida, but metaphorically speaking, it has melted away.

That’s a pretty accurate image for the Whale’s season, too, as what was shaping up as a strong finish to the regular year took a sudden U-turn, with the club unable, in six tries, to get the one win that would have earned it a playoff berth.

What happened, you ask?  Well, that’s a good question.  I can’t really point to one element that caused the bottom to fall out.

Action from the Whale’s season-ending 5-1 loss in Portland Saturday (courtesy of the Portland Pirates).

Lack of timely scoring was certainly an issue, as all but the last of the six losses were by one goal, with one including an empty-netter.  Individually, some important players hit slumps at the very end, as leading goal-scorer Brandon Segal was held without a tally in the last six games, after putting together the second-longest goal-scoring streak in team history, a six-gamer, Christian Thomas had one goal in the last nine games and J.T. Miller was held without a goal in the five games he played after coming back from New York.

It’s hard to fault any of those guys’ efforts, though, I don’t think the dearth of goal-scoring was due to an absence of “want-to”.

One collective number that stands out is the shots-against.  That was a bit of a bugaboo all year, as the Whale ranked 27^th out of the 30 AHL teams in shots given up per game, at 32.5, but the trouble got even more pronounced at the very end.  They only gave up 22 in the crushing, last-second, 4-3 loss in Springfield last Sunday, but other than that, the opposing shot totals in the last two weekends of the season were 45, 36, 35 and 39, for an average of 38.8 per game.  That’s way too many.

It’s easy to point the finger at the goaltenders for not making all the saves the team needed, but that’s too much rubber to be facing on a nightly basis, and you can extrapolate it out, too, to much too much time to be spending in your own zone.  And to be fair, if you look back over the last 44 games of the campaign, the time during which the Whale went from a near cellar-dweller to a playoff contender, Jason Missiaen had a save percentage of 92.7 and Cam Talbot’s was 92.2.  Those are two real good numbers, and the team wouldn’t have even been sniffing the postseason if they hadn’t been as strong.

When you talk about shots against and too much time in the defensive zone, it’s not unreasonable to look at the loss of Blake Parlett as having turned out to be a big blow.

I have to admit, I liked Parlett’s game, for the most part, this year and thought he had come a long way as a player, but I didn’t think that taking him out of the Whale mix was going to hurt the team nearly as much as it seemed to.

Sometimes, particularly with defensemen, you have no idea how important a guy really is, and how many key minutes he takes care of, until you don’t have him anymore, and the Whale’s record since the April 3 Ranger/Columbus trade is a good illustration of that.

Connecticut actually won the first two games without Parlett, but were outshot (there it is again) 64-36 in the process, before the season-ending losing skein began with a 1-0 loss to Providence in the home finale two Sundays ago.

No reasonable hockey observer could argue against the trade the Rangers made to move Marian Gaborik, and New York’s record since the deal, 7-2-2, clearly confirms that it was a smart move.  I would have thought, too, that the Whale had enough collective depth to weather the loss of Parlett, especially with Stu Bickel coming down from the Rangers, but that seems not to have been the case.

Now the Whale focus turns to a hoped-for Ranger postseason run, and it should come clear in the next day or two who from the Whale roster will be headed to Gotham to augment the big club’s group.

Whale Still with Reasonable Shot at Postseason

The Whale continue to fail to make things easy on themselves, but, crazy as it sounds after an 0-4-1-0 swoon, they are still hardly out of the playoff picture.

Manchester and Hershey both won last night, but Norfolk lost, taking a 6-1 pasting at the hands of the Crunch in Syracuse, which, combined with the Whale’s 3-2 defeat at Albany, created a four-team logjam at 79 points.

Only two of the four teams at 79 can get in, and the Whale are at a disadvantage in that they have only tonight’s game in Portland left, whereas the other three teams all have two games.  Plus, Manchester and Hershey play each other tomorrow, so one of those two teams is guaranteed to have 81 points.  If the Whale win tonight and don’t need a shootout to do it, they would have 81 points and 34 non-shootout wins, which would guarantee them the tiebreaker over Hershey (they already have the tiebreaker on Norfolk, which cannot catch the Whale in non-shootout wins) and would give them the tiebreaker on Manchester if the Monarchs lose both of their games.  Of course it’s all academic if two of the other three end up with more points than Connecticut, but the Whale could conceivably lose tonight and still get in.  If Norfolk and Hershey lose both of their games in regulation, Manchester would take seventh and, with the Whale, Admirals and Bears all still tied at 79 points, the Whale would take the eighth spot by virtue of having the most non-shootout wins of the three tied teams.

Action from the Whale’s 3-2 loss Friday at Albany (courtesy of Albany Devils)

That’s a lot of ifs, but one sure thing is that the Whale need to show more urgency than they did in last night’s loss in Albany, or even if they do find their way into the postseason, it will be a short stay.  The Whale were outshot 35-23 in the game, including 13-6 in the decisive third period, by an Albany team that is out of playoff contention, and even though Connecticut led twice in the game, both times they allowed the Devils to come back and tie the game shortly after the Whale had gone ahead.  The margin between success and failure is thin this time of year, and all five losses in this drought have been one-goal games (plus one empty-net goal), so it’s not like the Whale have been mailing it in and getting blown out, but the extra effort that led them to wins in eight of their previous ten needs to come back to the forefront in a big hurry.  Otherwise it is going to be a long offseason of pondering what might have been.