DANBURY, CT – The Danbury Whalers started the second half of the 2012-2013 campaign on a high note, defeating the Williamsport Outlaws 3-2. Richard Vanderhoek scored the game winner and Nick Niedert made 33 saves as the Whalers continued their dominance of the Outlaws at home (4-0).
The Whalers would fall behind 2:24 into the first period on former Whaler Martin Moucha’s 17th goal of the season. The score would stay that way until 3:30 of the second when Kamil Vavra connected on his 12th goal of the season on a pretty pass from behind the net by Mike Atkinson. The Outlaws would retake the lead 23 seconds later on a goal by Matt Puntureri (6th) after a bad turnover in their own defensive zone.
Things didn’t look like they were going to get much better after Andrew Willock took a penalty a little while later. But aggressive penalty killing lead to a short-handed tally by Tyler Noseworthy (16th) at 11:19 of the second. From there you could feel the momentum swing in the Whalers favor. Richard Vanderhoek would score the go ahead goal at 15:06 on a rebound from Noseworthy and the Whalers would play shut down defense the rest of the way.
“Our defense really stepped up tonight. We have a few new additions to our defensive roster and I think they really made a difference tonight and hopefully for the rest of the season.” – Head Coach Phil Esposito.
Chris Whitley made 44 saves in the losing effort, which saw the Outlaws 4 game winning streak stopped. These two teams will meet up once again tomorrow afternoon in Williamsport. Puck drop is at 1:05.
