The Worcester Railers took on the Adirondack Thunder Sunday afternoon at the Cool Insuring Arena, and behind three-point afternoons from Steve Jandric and Quinn Ryan and 25 saves from Ken Appleby defeated the Thunder 6-1 for their fifth win in a row to start the season, setting a new Worcester pro hockey record.
Once again Worcester came out of the gates hot, and for the fourth time in five games scored the opening goal of the game when Blade Jenkins beat Thunder netminder Jake Theut to the stick side.
The Railers power play looked good Saturday but didn’t convert, but Sunday was a different story as Worcester notched their second extra-man goal of the season to make it 2-0.
Referees Dominic Cadieux and Riley Brace reviewed the play for goaltender interference. They could not review for a possible high stick as that is not reviewable in the ECHL.
Later in the first frame, the Railers would be shorthanded for the first time in the contest, but Jimmy Lambert would make it a 3-0 Worcester with the team’s first shorthanded tally of the season.
Adirondack’s Noah Corson, who went after Railers netminder Henrik Tikkanen last night, tried his luck with Ken Appleby early in the second frame. While it eventually gave the Thunder a five-on-three advantage it still didn’t work out well for Corson as Appleby stood his ground.
Worcester’s offensive outburst continued once the penalties were killed when Jandric blasted one past Theut.
That would be all for Theut, but Isaac Poulter didn’t fare much better as the Railers converted for the second power play goal of the afternoon.
The third period was very chippy with both teams picking up the physical play. Worcester showed they could play that style, and increased their lead to six goals with a nice play from Collin Adams and Brent Beaudoin.
All that remained was to see if Appleby could get the shutout, but Shane Harper put an end to that with a power play goal at 15:05 for what would eventually be a 6-1 final score.
The 5-0 Newfoundland Growlers will be the Railers next opponent, and the two undefeated squads will face off Wednesday night at the DCU Center.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Jared Brandt, Connor Breen (IR/undisclosed), Zack Bross (IR/undisclosed), Blake Christensen, Noah Delmas, and Jack Quinlivan (IR/undisclosed). Henrik Tikkanen was the backup goaltender. Prior to the start of the game Railers general manager Jordan Smotherman signed forward Derek Osik to a contract. Osik is a Shrewsbury, Mass native and attended Worcester’s training camp. He wore #22 Sunday afternoon. That signing pretty much means Christensen is at least “banged up”, otherwise he would have been in the lineup Sunday. Brandt took an awkward hit and fell Saturday night but did return to the game. Perhaps he might fall into the “banged up” category as well.
A source yesterday morning told this writer that Adirondack was going to wear red jerseys Saturday night, and their track record has been good in the past so I went with it. That would have put Worcester in their home whites for the game. I even tweeted I’d rather they go with the blue jerseys for a color-on-color match-up. Lo and behold, the Thunder come out in gray sweaters, and the Railers in their orange fifth-anniversary jerseys. That seemed odd to me in many ways, so this morning I reached out to the Railers to ask if they only had the orange fifths available to use. The answer was a tad cryptic, but that and the fact they wore practice jerseys in their exhibition game leads me to believe that the blue and white sweaters haven’t arrived yet.
While the five wins in a row to start the season is a new Worcester city record, it’s not the record for most games earning a point to start the season. That’s actually six games by the 2011-12 WorSharks, who had four wins and two shootout losses to start that season.
There’s an uncommon scoring oddity on Worcester’s first goal where Philip Beaulieu earned an assist on Blade Jenkins’ goal, but not a “plus”. After making the pass to Ryan MacKinnon, Beaulieu changed off for Christian Evers. Seconds later, Jenkins scored. So Beaulieu gets the assist, and Evers gets the “plus”.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 35 Ken Appleby
2. WOR – 44 Steve Jandric
3. WOR – 19 Quinn Ryan
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Ryan MacKinnon.
Even Strength Lines
Vesey / Beaudoin / Lambert
Adams / Jenkins / Newkirk
Jandric / Coughlin / Butler
Osik / x /Ryan
MacKinnon / Evers
McGurty / McCarthy
Cosgrove / Beaulieu
Our affiliates last night
Springfield 3, Providence 2 (SO)
In the ECHL’s North Divison
Maine 5, Norfolk 3
Reading 3, Indy 2
BOX SCORE
Worcester 3 2 1 – 6
Adirondack 0 0 1 – 1
1st Period-1, Worcester, Jenkins 4 (MacKinnon, Beaulieu), 5:01. 2, Worcester, Jandric 4 (Beaulieu, Ryan), 13:07 (PP). 3, Worcester, Lambert 1 (Jandric), 17:37 (SH). Penalties-Corson Adk (holding), 12:58; Osik Wor (tripping), 16:25; Jenkins Wor (slashing), 20:00.
2nd Period-4, Worcester, Jandric 5 (Ryan, Osik), 8:41. 5, Worcester, Butler 3 (Coughlin, Ryan), 18:08 (PP). Penalties-served by Van Wyhe Adk (bench – too many men), 1:13; Evers Wor (tripping), 4:55; Appleby Wor (double – roughing), 5:02; Corson Adk (unsportsmanlike conduct), 5:02; Evers Wor (slashing), 11:12; Mikhalchuk Adk (slashing), 11:12; Da Silva Adk (holding), 16:24; Newkirk Wor (slashing, fighting – major), 20:00; Corson Adk (slashing), 20:00; Gourley Adk (fighting – major), 20:00.
3rd Period-6, Worcester, Adams 3 (Beaudoin), 3:49. 7, Adirondack, Harper 1 (Corson, Taylor), 15:05 (PP). Penalties-Maggio Adk (roughing), 7:33; Vesey Wor (tripping), 8:33; Cosgrove Wor (high-sticking), 14:51; Maggio Adk (holding), 16:21; Cosgrove Wor (roughing), 18:50; Maggio Adk (cross-checking, roughing), 18:50.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 10-9-7-26. Adirondack 9-10-7-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 2 / 6; Adirondack 1 / 6.
Goalies-Worcester, Appleby 3-0-0-0 (26 shots-25 saves). Adirondack, Theut 0-1-0-0 (14 shots-10 saves); Poulter 0-2-0-0 (12 shots-10 saves).
A-1,761
Referees-Dominic Cadieux (3), Riley Brace (4).
Linesmen-Noah Merrow (57), Matthew Heinen (93).
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