The Worcester Railers took on the Adirondack Thunder Sunday afternoon in the second of a pair of contests at the DCU Center this weekend and used two highlight goals from Steve Jandric and 26 saves from rookie goaltender Henrik Tikkanen to defeat the Thunder 4-1 and sweep the two-game mini-series.
The six-foot-eight Tikkanen was near perfect on the night, with Noah Corson’s goal at 14:14 of the opening period being listed as the only blemish on his night. The goal was probably one referee Michael Zyla should have taken a second look at it appeared Corson deflected Ryan Da Silva’s shot with a high stick. Not only that, but Corson was squarely in the crease next to Tikkanen, and while he didn’t interfere with Tikkanen a lot it was enough to justify a second glace. Alas, despite the Railers asking referee Zyla chose to play on.
Once again it was Worcester getting on the board first when Collin Adams beat Adirondack goalkeeper Isaac Poulter at 4:14 of the opening period. After a failed Thunder clearing bid Reece Newkirk forwarded the puck up the right wing boards to Jandric, who went to the net and fired a shot on Poulter. The rebound went right to Adams, and he buried it for the 1-0 lead.
Jandric got his first of the night at 13:10 on a beautiful play. Blake Christensen was able to push a loose puck at the Thunder bench forward as he was falling to the ice. Jandric grabbed the feed and wheeled around two Adirondack defenders and beat Poulter to the far post to make it 2-0.
Corson’s disputed goal made it 2-1 after one period, and it stayed that way until Jandric struck again at 10:05 of the third period. It was a great individual effort by Jandric, who raced through two Thunder defenders for a loose puck and then in on Poulter, beating the netminder to the far post yet again. Jacob Hayhurst and Christain Evers picked up the assist on the play.
Brent Beaudoin’s empty netter at 19:24 sealed the deal, netting Worcester four points on the weekend. Jenkins and Nolan Vesey grabbed points for assists on the play.
The Railers are off until Wednesday when they visit Trois-Rivieres, with a 7pm scheduled puck drop.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Jared Brandt, Bobby Butler (day-to-day/upper body), Connor Breen (IR/undisclosed), Zack Bross (IR/undisclosed), Liam Coughlin, Connor McCarthy, and Jack Quinlivan (IR/undisclosed). Ken Appleby was the backup goaltender.
It was the Railers’ first-ever “Kid’s Takeover Game”, where youngsters took over many of the off-ice activities. Now the easy joke would be that some of the Railers staff are so young that there isn’t much difference in ages between them and the kids, but we’ll refrain from going there. One thing about games full of kids is the noise level is noticeably higher, even without “Make Some Noise” being flashed on the Daktronics video board.
Pushed off until today because of all the opening night stuff yesterday, prior to Saturday night’s game the Railers announced their four alternate captains for the 2022-23 season. We’ll ignore the fact they called them “assistant captains” and just congratulate those selected.
As expected, former Railers fan favorite and current Adirondack forward Yanick Turcotte was suspended for five games for leaving the bench to join the post-horn altercation Saturday night. With his past history it was possible he could have been suspended much longer, but the fact he couldn’t get involved in the scuffle due to the actions of referee Alex Normandin probably saved Turcotte from a longer suspension. Three of those five games are against the Railers, the first being Sunday’s game and the next two in Adirondack next weekend. In related news, Trois-Rivieres will not have Cedrick Montminy in their lineup Wednesday against the Railers as he too was suspended Sunday morning for leaving the Lions player’s bench in their game against Maine Saturday night.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 44 Steve Jandric
2. WOR – 39 Henrik Tikkanen
3. WOR – 21 Collin Adams
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Blade Jenkins.
Even Strength Lines
Vesey / Beaudoin / Repaci
Jandric / Ryan / Hayhurst
Adams / Jenkins / Newkirk
Christensen / x / Lambert
MacKinnon / Delmas
Evers / McGurty
Cosgrove / Beaulieu
In the North Division
Greenville 3, Norfolk 2
Maine 5, Trois-Rivieres 2
Newfoundland 6, Reading 2
Our affiliates last night
Florida 3, NY Islanders 2
Bridgeport 5, Hartford 2
BOX SCORE
Adirondack 1 0 0 – 1
Worcester 2 0 2 – 4
1st Period-1, Worcester, Adams 1 (Jenkins, Newkirk), 4:48. 2, Worcester, Jandric 1 (Christensen), 13:10. 3, Adirondack, Corson 2 (Da Silva), 14:14. Penalties-Gourley Adk (interference), 19:51.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Cosgrove Wor (high-sticking), 8:01; Christensen Wor (tripping), 14:03.
3rd Period-4, Worcester, Jandric 2 (Hayhurst, Evers), 10:05. 5, Worcester, Beaudoin 2 (Jenkins, Vesey), 19:24 (EN). Penalties-Van Wyhe Adk (high-sticking), 0:58; Vesey Wor (roughing), 4:32; Van Wyhe Adk (roughing), 11:04; Jenkins Wor (slashing), 11:04; Corson Adk (double – roughing), 17:43; McGurty Wor (double – roughing), 17:43.
Shots on Goal-Adirondack 10-11-6-27. Worcester 8-8-10-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Adirondack 0 / 3; Worcester 0 / 2.
Goalies-Adirondack, Poulter 0-1-0-0 (25 shots-22 saves). Worcester, Tikkanen 1-0-0-0 (27 shots-26 saves).
A-4,107
Referees-Michael Zyla (34).
Linesmen-Matthew Heinen (93), Sam Schildkraut (46).
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