Game 29 --

Second period fireworks lead Whalers to 4-2 win

VANCOUVER -- While it was hard to discern one team from the other in the early goings of this contest, it was the middle-period that sealed the deal for the Vancouver Whalers in a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Falcons.

Fireworks erupted early on with Ieuan Llewellyn and Alex Derin duking it out. Vancouver was then assessed the only penalties of the period. The fans were livid, as per usual, despite the legitimacy of the calls.

In the second period, things go started early. Detroit still held the man advantage off a holding minor called on Carl Farris to end the first. Just as Farris exited the box, the Falcons hunkered down in the offensive zone. A shot by Alexander Odegaard missed the net, riccocheted off the boards and landed on the opposite side for a quick wrister from Alex Kepka. Popping the bottle off the roof of the net, Kepka made the score 1-0 in favor of the Falcons.

Not long afterward, Viktor Nerokov finished a string of possession success for the Falcons as well. With the puck seeming to find anything but the net, the Falcons calmed things down at the point for a moment before starting a strong cycling play that allowed Nerokov to rush in behind the defenders and strike with a tap in goal.

With the noise dwindling, it was up to the Whalers to respond and get the fans back into things.

They did in full force. Just over a minute after the Nerokov goal, Connor MacDonald received a pass up the left side from Ace Redding. He held strong with the puck against the boards, made a stutter-step move to lose the defender and rifled a shot short side past Jeremy Anderson.

Bynjar Tusk, the second overall selection, continued the comeback after finishing on a good play in the offensive zone. Theodore Graham carried into the offensive zone up the wing, dropped it off to OG Bobby while drawing the defense out. With Bobby and Tusk on a 2-on-1, the defender misplayed and dropped to a knee, allowing Bobby to lift the puck past him and Tusk to finish with a stunning one-timer.

Given about eight minutes more in the period, and Vancouver was back to the heavy offensive. A defensive face-off win was given up to Ace Redding, who made the mad rush to the offensive zone. He broke in, made a toe drag around the defender, and swung a shot quickly into the net to make it 3-2 for Vancouver.

They would never give up the lead from then onward.

A give and go play just over a minute later by Connor MacDonald and OG Bobby up the side and into the zone led to the final goal of the game. Bobby fired it off Jari Sinikka, attempting to protect his already battered goaltender. However, the rebound off the block was found by Bobby and the puck was banged in on a misplay.

Sivy McSieve was then put into the game, and would maintain a shutout for the Falcons, who were unable to mount a comeback.

Throughout the contest, ice time was limited at times. The Detroit Falcons only managed to play their top line for 13:50, while their second and third lines would both pass that mark.

Likewise, the top defensive pairing barely outpaced their compatriots and the third pairing was featured a lot more often. Detroit may need to look to endurance training and cardio soon.

Ace Redding was named the first star with his two points -- especially the one-man coast-to-coast effort -- and four hits. While the goaltenders were unnamed in the tallying of great performances despite a spectacular 23 saves on 25 shots by Maximillian Wehner to make him 4-0-0, and McSieves 11-for-11 shutout in his 23 minutes on ice.

BOX SCORE


Recap:
* tell a story of the game, journalist or blog style (That's kinda my thing)
* some description of the goals (not just, 'he shoots he scores', but the leadup of the play and how it transpired, who was involved) (All of them)
* individual player stats breakdown/comparisons (Redding, goalies)