The Worcester Railers were playing their first three in three on the season in an arena that’s tough to win in under the best of circumstances, and just couldn’t get the job done against the Newfoundland Growlers Sunday afternoon after being outshot 47-19, and ultimately were outscored 3-2.
After a scoreless opening period the two clubs headed into the middle stanza. The Railers’ power play, which had been doing well against the high-ranked penalty kill of the Growlers, had already gone 0-4 before Newfoundland got their first opportunity. They capitalized on their chance, with Keenan Suthers making it 1-0 at 13:34.
Exactly 30 seconds later Worcester got on the board when Jack Quinlivan crashed the net and put it in after a couple of pokes.
To the third the teams went, and both knew the next goal would be huge. Unfortunately for Worcester, it was the Growlers that would grab it at 11:39 after the Railers had killed off a Newfoundland power play but couldn’t get the tired penalty killers off the ice.
Worcester’s tired legs dug deep and threw what they had left at the Growlers, and with referee Brendan Schreider having his arm up to call a penalty Liam Coughlin came storming into the offensive zone as the extra attacker and took Jared Brant’s feed and one-timed it past Luke Cavallin to make it 2-2.
From that point on it was just about all Newfoundland, with Henrik Tikkanen continuing to make big save after big save. But allowing all those scoring chances will eventually come back to haunt you, and Brett Budgell finally was able to get one past Tikkanen from a bad angle to give the Growlers the 3-2 lead.
The Railers had their chances afterward, including their fifth power play opportunity of the night, but they couldn’t light the lamp again as Worcester had to settle for taking four of six points on The Rock.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were goaltender Ken Appleby, defenseman Phi Beaulieu, and forward Nolan Vesey. Doug Pippy was the EBUG for the Railers and wore #30 on the bench. There was no reason given as to why Appleby was unavailable.
As we’ve done the last few games, we’ll mention again that the Worcester Railers Booster Club is going a bit of online fundraising this weekend. The club is selling some amazing Jordan Smotherman t-shirts. (You should click the link just to see the shirt, trust me). The order form is for buying and picking up your t-shirt at Railers games, for shipping options send a Twitter DM to the club or email info@railersbc.com.
The three stars of the game were:
1. NFL – 14 Brett Budgell
2. WOR – 39 Henrik Tikkanen
3. NFL – 33 Luke Cavallin
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Liam Coughlin.
Even Strength Lines
Christensen / Ryan / Butler
Repaci / Beaudoin / Jerry
Newkirk / Coughlin / Quinlivan
Osik / x / Bross
Brandt / McGurty
Solow / Delmas
Evers / McCarthy
Our affiliates last night
Chicago @ NY Islanders, late
Springfield 3, Bridgeport 1
In the ECHL’s North Division
Maine 4, Adirondack 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 1 1 – 2
Newfoundland 0 1 2 – 3
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Budgell Nfl (slashing), 11:21.
2nd Period-1, Newfoundland, Suthers 2 (Kapcheck, Kruse), 13:34 (PP). 2, Worcester, Quinlivan 2 (Newkirk, Coughlin), 14:04. Penalties-Gogolev Nfl (high-sticking – double), 0:29; Sredl Nfl (cross-checking), 5:26; McCarthy Wor (slashing), 12:12.
3rd Period-3, Newfoundland, Skirving 6 (Budgell, Gogolev), 11:39. 4, Worcester, Coughlin 2 (Brandt, Repaci), 13:00. 5, Newfoundland, Budgell 7 (Escott, Walker), 14:52. Penalties-McGurty Wor (high-sticking), 9:27; Budgell Nfl (hooking), 16:04.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 4-7-8-19. Newfoundland 9-19-19-47.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 5; Newfoundland 1 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 8-2-0-0 (47 shots-44 saves). Newfoundland, Cavallin 8-2-0-0 (19 shots-17 saves).
A-3,554
Referees-Brendan Schreider (12).
Linesmen-Joe Maynard (92), Brian Lambert (57).
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210Sports 