Well, so much for keeping the Daktronics board period indicator on “3”. For the first time in their last five contests, the Worcester Railers didn’t register a goal in the third period of a game, but it turns out that didn’t matter as they managed to get a Quinn Ryan game-winner in the fourth period to defeat the Maine Mariners 5-4 in overtime Wednesday night at the DCU center in front of a very loud gathering of 4,427.
For the fourth game in a row, Worcester gave up the opening goal of the contest when the defense allowed former Railers forward Jimmy Lambert to get behind them and set up in front of Worcester netminder Henrik Tikkanen all alone. Lambert was then able to deflect Reid Stefanson’s centering feed past Tikkanen at 3:40.
That deficit would last just a couple of minutes as Railers captain Anthony Repaci played a little baseball to tie the score.
In the NHL that goal would have likely not counted as it seems pretty clear from the broadcast angle that Repaci knocks the puck in from above the crossbar. But on its own, that is not a reviewable play in the ECHL, so the goal stands.
With Anthony Callin in the penalty box for what might be the laziest tripping penalty in Railers franchise history, Alex Kile would make it a 2-1 lead at 11:30 when he and Lambert made the Worcester penalty killers look like traffic cones, with Kile finishing the break in with a goal to the stick side of Tikkanen.
It took just 31 ticks of second-period time for Ashton Calder to knot the score 2-2.
The Railers would grab their first lead of the game at 8:38 when Artyom Kulakov threw a nice pass out to a breaking Calder for a shorthanded bid.
Daylan Kuefler then made it 4-2 with an “excuse me” power play goal at 14:15.
But very little has come easy for the Railers this season, and Lambert made it 4-3 with a power play goal of his own at 15:32 when he beat Tikkanen high to the glove side and just inside the far post. Lambert has six goals on the season so far, three of them against Worcester.
Fans were expecting another third-period explosion from the Railers, and despite Worcester outshooting the Mariners 13-5 it was Maine getting the lone goal in the frame when Stefanson beat Tikkanen at 8:08. That was a two-on-one that the Railers’ defense should have never allowed in the first place, and a bid that Tikkanen needs to save in a close game.
The overtime period was exactly what fans want to see in a three-on-three period, with great chances on both ends and the action virtually non-stop. It should also take a great play to score in overtime, and that’s what Connor Welsh and Ryan teamed up to do as Ryan sent the fans home happy for the extra point.
The Railers will now head down to Reading, Pennsylvania for three in a row against the Royals starting with a game Friday night at 7pm.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Todd Goehring, Christian Krygier (IR/upper), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower), and Jack Quinlivan (IR/lower). John Muse was the backup netminder. On Wednesday afternoon forward Jake Pivonka and defender Trevor Cosgrove were recalled by the Bridgeport Islanders, leaving the Railers with just five healthy defensemen. Right winger Brendan Robbins was pressed into service on the blueline, and while looking a bit unorthodox at times got the job done. Quin Ryan was activated from injured reserve before the game, marking his return from the oft-mentioned “upper-body injury” after missing 13 games. Despite past history where recalls seem to do a lot of sitting in the stands in Bridgeport, both Pivonka and Cosgrove played for the AHL Islanders Wednesday night. Neither hit the scoresheet.
The Railers are on a modest three-game winning streak, their first of the season and the first for the team since March 10th to the 17th last season, a streak that also included two wins over the Mariners. The first game on that steak was against Adirondack, and it was Trois-Rivières on this one. Worcester has had two three-game points streaks this season, the latest being wins over Newfoundland and Cincinnati sandwiching an overtime loss to the Cyclones in mid-November.
There’s been a scoring change on Daylan Kuefler’s first goal from Saturday night, with Joey Cipollone losing an assist and Aston Calder picking one up. That goal now reads “3. WOR Kuefler, (1) (Calder, Pivonka), 4:44 (PP)”.
For those that keep track of such things Wednesday’s referee, Tyler Hascall, was also the referee for the game that saw the Railers nine game season-opening winning streak broken last season. His calls played no role in that loss, just as there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary last night. Hascall went to video review once Wednesday night, on John Copeland’s bid that hit the post behind Maine netminder Brad Arvanitis, likely because the red light came on and Hascall was trailing the break-in and didn’t have the best look at it from his angle. He really didn’t need to as it clearly didn’t go in. Hascall waved off a Railers goal at 7:02 of the first on a play he had a great view off as Blade Jenkins was bumped in a slightly less than aggressive manner and then intentionally crashed into Arvanitis as Anthony Callin put it into the yawning net. Hascall said “no” and sent Jenkins to the sin bin. After our video review, turns out he got that one right too.
In some dead horse beating, what could possibly be the reason the Worcester Telegram didn’t cover any of the Railers’ last three games considering that all of them ended before 8pm and any coverage should have easily made it into the next day’s newspaper? Never mind that they have a website that could surely use some new content and they could actually cover every home game, what was the reason there was no coverage this weekend? Tommy Cassell covered the Hudson vs Northbridge high school game that took place Saturday afternoon before the Railers and Mariners tilt, would it have taken much to have Cassell stay and cover the pro game? Apparently so.
There is no reason that makes any sense for this writer to include pictures of Pivonka (#37) and former Railers netminder Jakub Skarek (#1) wearing the glorious Islanders throwback Fisherman jerseys, but I’m going to do it anyway.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 9 Quinn Ryan
2. WOR – 16 Ashton Calder
3. MNE – 22 Jimmy Lambert
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Callin.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Jenkins / Callin
Kuefler / Cipollone / Calder
Howdeshell / White / Piercey
Bakanov / X / Ryan
Garat / Welsh
Verrier / Copeland
Kulakov / Robbins
Our affiliates last night
Pittsburgh 7, NY Islanders 0
Providence 5, Bridgeport 4
In the ECHL’s North Division
Trois-Rivières 6, Newfoundland 3
BOX SCORE
Maine 2 1 1 0 – 4
Worcester 1 3 0 1 – 5
1st Period-1, Maine, Lambert 5 (Stefanson), 3:40. 2, Worcester, Repaci 8 (Jenkins, Callin), 5:51. 3, Maine, Kile 13 (Lambert, Constantinou), 11:30 (PP). Penalties-Callin Wor (tripping), 10:43.
2nd Period-4, Worcester, Calder 12 (Kuefler, White), 0:31. 5, Worcester, Calder 13 (Kulakov), 8:38 (SH). 6, Worcester, Kuefler 3 (Verrier, Calder), 14:15 (PP). 7, Maine, Lambert 6 (Askew, Kile), 15:32 (PP). Penalties-Jenkins Wor (interference on the goalkeeper), 7:02; Drevitch Mne (holding), 12:50; Howdeshell Wor (tripping), 14:31; Robbins Wor (roughing), 17:43.
3rd Period-8, Maine, Stefanson 9 (Albrecht, Kalmikov), 8:08. Penalties-Guertler Mne (tripping), 12:40; Drevitch Mne (slashing), 16:07; Welsh Wor (roughing), 16:07.
1st OT Period-9, Worcester, Ryan 2 (Welsh, Callin), 4:34. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Maine 5-11-5-2-23. Worcester 11-15-13-4-43.
Power Play Opportunities-Maine 2 / 4; Worcester 1 / 2.
Goalies-Maine, Arvanitis 5-3-1-0 (43 shots-38 saves). Worcester, Tikkanen 6-5-1-1 (23 shots-19 saves).
A-4,427
Referees-Tyler Hascall (8).
Linesmen-Conor Foley (86), Matthew Heinen (93).
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