Whale snap three-game losing streak with win over Toronto

Connecticut’s Justine Reyes (14) battles with Toronto’s Kati Tabin (9) and Alexis Woloshuk (48) during Sunday’s PHF game in Simsbury. The Whale prevailed, 6-4.

SIMSBURY, Feb. 19, 2023 – The Connecticut Whale have been pretty consistent when their backs are up against the wall.

Needing a win on Sunday, the Whale played with intensity and snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-4 win over the Toronto Six at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Premier Hockey Federation action.

“I think playing with a little desperation is good at times,” said Connecticut forward Melissa Samoskevich, the Newtown native who had two goals in the victory. “It brings up the compete level. We need to compete for 60 minutes.”

The Whale (9-8-2) have shown that they can score goals. They are third in the league in scoring with 65 goals behind Boston (74) and Toronto (72).

They’ve also played inconsistently defensively, which has led to too many odd-man rushes at Whale goalies Abby Ives and Meeri Raisanen and deficits that Connecticut has struggled to overcome.

On Saturday night, Toronto led by three goals at one point, taking advantage of mental errors and penalties by the Whale, which lost 5-3, scoring a late goal in the final 10 seconds to make the score more respectable.

“We didn’t play our best game yesterday,” Whale coach Colton Orr said. “A few individuals personally felt they could play better. We found a way (today). There was more (of a) work ethic. We had to regroup and get back to our game.”

The game was tied at 2-2 after one period with Caitlin Lonergan scoring on a shorthanded goal and Allie Munroe scoring a power play goal, her first of the season. The Whale took the lead twice only to see the Six tie it back up.

In the second period, the Whale took a 4-2 lead on goals from Samoskevich and Amanda Conway with her first goal of the season. But the Six rallied again with a pair of goals to tie the game at 4-4 after two periods.

In third period, Samoskevich got her seventh goal of the year on the power play with 12:52 remaining off assists from Kennedy Marchment (3 assists) and Taylor Girard. And the Whale played tough defense for the remainder of the game to secure the win.

Meeri Raisanen made 21 stops in net to earn her third win of the season.

Connecticut’s Alyssa Wohlfeiler (8) moves torward the net in Sunday’s PHF game in Simsbury against Toronto.

In the race for the playoffs, the Whale picked up three points on fifth place Montreal (7-12-1) and now lead the Force by 10 points with five games remaining. The Force were swept by Boston this weekend. The Whale also crept closer to third place Minnesota, who were swept by the Buffalo Beauts. Connecticut trails the Whitecaps by three points, 32-29.

“We’re not going to settle for fourth place. We want to keep climbing and keep that consistent play,” Orr said.

For the second straight game, there was a nice crowd at the International Skating Center with a few hundred fans filling many of the seats and standing around portions of the rink. “When people are here it feels full,” Samoskevich said.

The Whale play their final regular season game in Simsbury on Sunday when they host the Metropolitan Riveters at 3 p.m.

Connecticut 6, Toronto 4
At Simsbury
Toronto (14-4-2)              2  2  0  — 4
Connecticut (9-8-2)         2  2  2  — 6
First period
Connecticut 1, Caitrin Lonergan, 2:02, (sh); Toronto 1, Kati Tabin (Shiann Darkangelo, Daryl Watts), 2:25 (pp); Connecticut 2, Allie Munroe (Alyssa Wohlfeiler, Kennedy Marchment) 4:59 (pp); Toronto 2, Michela Cava, 9:27; Penalties – Hannah Bates (CT) hooking, 0:34; Kati Tabin (T) body checking, 4:36
Second period
Connecticut 3, Melissa Samoskevich (Caitrin Lonergan), 1:22; Connecticut 4, Amanda Conway (Lenka Serdar, Janine Weber), 4:50, Toronto 3, Emma Woods (Shiann Darkangelo), 12:33, Toronto 4, Leah Lum (Lexi Templeman, Dominika Laskova), 16:25; Penalties – Dominika Laskova (T) slashing, 18:40; Hannah Bates (CT) slashing, 18:40
Third period
Connecticut 5, Melissa Samoskevich (Kennedy Marchment, Taylor Girard), 7:08 (pp); Connecticut 6, Taylor Girard (Kennedy Marchment), 19:05 (shorthanded, empty net); Penalties – Elaine Chuli (T) tripping, 3:43 (served by Leah Lum), Alyssa Wohlfeiler (CT) interference, 4:06; Lindsay Eastwood (T) holding, 5:00; Caitlin Lonergan (CT) body checking, 18:55
Goalies: Toronto – Elaine Chuli (L, 11-4-2), 33 saves: Connecticut —  Merri Raisanen (W, 3-2) 21 saves; Shots – Connecticut 39 (14-11-11), Toronto 25 (8-9-8); Power plays – Toronto 1-4, Connecticut 2-4

2023 PHF standings
As of Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023