Whalers goalie shuts down Spits with 30-save effort

Tyler Thomson, WindsorSpitfires.com

Alex Nedeljkovic was the game’s first star Thursday night, making 30 saves to steal a 1-0 victory from the Spitfires at the WFCU Centre.

The Carolina Hurrincanes prospect came up big down the stretch, including a stellar cross-crease save on Ryan Moore in the third period to capture his second shutout of the season.

Danny Vanderwiel`s goal 2:24 into the first period held up until the final horn as the Spitfires fell to 3-6-1-0 on the season.

Despite entering the game with the league’s 19th-ranked penalty kill, Plymouth (5-5-1-0) held the Spits scoreless in five power play attempts.

The game’s only goal came courtesy of a tidy three-way passing play, finished by Vanderwiel (4), who had an empty net to tap home his fourth of the season, just 2:24 into the game.

Alex Fotinos (26 saves) had to come up big on a point-blank try from Nick Caamano to keep the game 1-0 midway through the first.

The Spitfires controlled the second period, outshooting the Whalers 13-4. But they were met with more stiff resistance from Nedeljkovic. Their best chance came off a 2-on-1 that saw Ryan Moore (5 shots) just miss the net after a seeing-eye pass from Ryan Foss.

The Spits pulled Fotinos in the final minute, desperately trying for an equalizer, but a couple of key blocked shots and clears got Plymouth out of the building with the victory.

NOTES

Patrick Sanvido was a rock throughout the evening, blocking five shots and dishing out six hits. Aaron Luchuk had five takeaways, while leading-scorer Chris Marchese fired seven shots on net.

The Spitfires head up the highway to Guelph (6-3-0-0) for a tough test at the Sleeman Centre Friday night (7:30), before returning home on Saturday (7:05) to take on the Mississauga Steelheads (4-3-0-0).

SUMMARY

FIRST PERIOD

1. PLY: VANDERWIEL (4) (CRUS RYDBERG, BITTEN) 2:24

SECOND PERIOD

NO SCORING

THIRD PERIOD

NO SCORING

SHOTS ON GOAL

WSR: 12 – 13 – 5 = 30

PLY: 10 – 4 – 13 = 27

POWER PLAYS:

WSR: 0-FOR-5

PLY: 0-FOR-4