The Worcester Railers visited Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania for a matchup against the Royals to finish off their season long seven game road trip, and they managed to come back from two one-goal deficits before falling 3-2 in a shootout.
It was an even opening period with both teams getting decent chances. Worcester goaltender Colten Ellis and Reading netminder Logan Flodell both made some high-quality saves to keep the contest scoress after twenty minutes.
Unfortunately for the Railers, it took just 54 seconds into the middle period for Reading to take a 1-0 lead when Patrick Bajkov beat Ellis low to the glove side on a wicked wrist shot.
After a penalty kill that saw great shorthanded bids by Jacob Hayhurst and Anthony Repaci Worcester went on the power play. While they didn’t convert they kept the Royals penalty killers on the ice with a swarming attack, which then lead to the tying goal by Brent Beaudoin.
Reading would retake the lead at 14:25 of the frame on a nice tip by Garret Cockerill as he beat Austin Osmanski to the far post.
Once again the Railers would tie the score after a failed power play. This time both teams were able to get a line change, and then Reece Newkirk would tie it on a play that didn’t look like anything was going to happen.
It looked like Reading took the lead at 9:32 of the third when Kenny Hausinger put the puck into a yawning net behind Ellis, but after a video review the net was so wide open because Trevor Gooch was preventing Ellis from making the save.
To overtime the teams when where once again goaltending was the story. It was then to the shootout where Ellis made two great saves to give his team a chance, but none of the three Worcester shooters seriously tested Flodell as Reading would net the only goal to win 3-2.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Bobby Butler (IR/unknown), Will Cullen, Grant Jozefek (IR/upper body), Connor McCarthy, Chris Ordoobadi, and Ethan Price. Jimmy Poreda was the backup up goaltender.
It’s becoming clear that the Railers have switched up how they designate players who aren’t dressed for a game. They used to list players that were injured as being out for that reason, but now they simply use “DNP” to note that the player did not play. The perfect example is Ross Olsson, who missed a couple games in Idaho and was listed in the press release about the game as “DNP”. In the coach’s corner for Wednesday, Railers head coach Dave Cunniff said Olsson was coming off being injured. Cullen hasn’t played since February 13th, so one would think he’s likely injured.
In what had been an issue all season, the Railers audio issues have seemingly finally been fixed. At the monthly Railers Booster Club meeting broadcaster Cam McGuire said the team has gotten an amplifier for their system, and that will hopefully fix the issues on FloHockey and on the radio. It seems four teams use the same audio system Worcester does and all were having the same issues, and the amplifier should do the trick. Cam mentioned they started using it in Utah, and after a couple hiccups, it worked well. Of course, you couldn’t tell from the game in Reading because they always have audio issues.
One quick tidbit from last weekend’s trip that I forgot to put into the recap. In their franchise history, the Railers are an amazing 8-3-2-0 against the Mountain Division teams, with all but one of those games being on the road. Their lone home game was a 4-2 win against the Utah Grizzlies on March 18, 2018. Jeff Kubiak scored the game-winner unassisted early in the third, and a shorthanded goal by Woody Hudson sealed the victory. Mitch Gillam got the win in net, saving 19 of 21 shots.
The three stars of the game were:
1. REA – 43 Anthony Gagnon
2. REA – 15 Patrick Bajkov
3. WOR – 81 Anthony Repaci
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Colten Ellis.
Even Strength Lines
Vesey / Beaudoin / Rapaci
Newkirk / Coughlin / Smotherman
Christensen / Hayhurst / Coskey
Olsson
Spetz / McGurty
Furgele / Albano
Osmanski / Sredl
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 1 1 0 – 2
Reading 0 2 0 0 – 3
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Albano Wor (slashing), 7:37.
2nd Period-1, Reading, Bajkov 18 (Gooch, McNally), 0:54. 2, Worcester, Beaudoin 11 (Repaci, Spetz), 7:20. 3, Reading, Cockerill 2 (Morrison), 14:25. Penalties-Spetz Wor (hooking), 1:40; MacKinnon Rea (hooking), 4:44; Coskey Wor (high-sticking), 17:49; Bajkov Rea (holding), 20:00.
3rd Period-4, Worcester, Newkirk 7 2:49. Penalties-No Penalties
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout – Worcester 0 (Beaudoin NG, Newkirk NG, Coskey NG), Reading 1 (Gagnon G, DiChiara NG, Bajkov NG).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 10-17-9-5-0-41. Reading 11-9-12-1-1-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 2; Reading 0 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Ellis 12-4-3-1 (33 shots-31 saves). Reading, Flodell 5-4-0-0 (41 shots-39 saves).
A-2,054
Referees-Steven Sailor (5).
Linesmen-Judson Ritter (70), JP Waleski (51).
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