Saturday night against the Fort Wayne Komets at the Memorial Coliseum was the twenty-first time this season the Worcester Railers entered the third period of a game trailing, and for an amazing seventh time they managed to get the victory with two last frame goals and the only goal in the shootout to defeat the Komets 4-3. Worcester has 16 points in those 21 games, and neither of those totals count games where they entered the third period tied and fell behind.
Railers netminder John Muse might want another chance on Fort Wayne’s first goal, although I’m betting if you asked any goaltender they’d tell you they want another shot at anything that got by them, but other than that first-period bad bounce Muse was his usual stellar self, making many great saves and going a perfect seven for seven in the shootout.
Blade Jenkins gave Worcester an early 1-0 lead when he deflected a hard centering pass from Ryan Verrier past Komets netminder Ryan Fanti six minutes into the game.
Nolan Volcan tied it with a shorthanded goal, and since we mentioned the bad bounce we may as well show it.
In the second period Ture Linden made it 2-1 at 16:58 when he put a rebound past a down and out Muse, and in the third Jack Dugan made it 3-1 at 8:07 when once again Worcester forwards tried to transition to offense before the defense behind them had complete control of the puck.
And for most teams, that would have been a dagger to the heart. But not the Railers this season, who seemed to have mastered the late game comeback. As Railers Booster Club President Rich Lundin said, “This team is something”.
Something, indeed.
Joey Cipollone made it 3-2 at 11:30 with a “right place, right time” goal.
For the sixth time this season Worcester scored an extra attacker goal, and Jenkins became the sixth different player to do it.
Through overtime the teams stayed 3-3, and it took until round seven of the shootout for anyone to light the lamp, and Saturday’s hero ended up being Jack Quinlivan in his first professional shootout attempt.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Brian Bowen, Todd Goehring (IR/unknown), Christian Krygier (IR/upper body), and Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body). Josh Boyko was the backup goaltender.
While the Railers had one healthy scratch, Bridgeport had three worth noting as Ashton Calder, Trevor Cosgrove, and Daylan Kuefler all didn’t play for the AHL Islanders. Kuefler, who has an NHL contract, was only in Worcester because of a training camp injury and was going to be recalled at some point. We can argue if the day before a trip out west was the right time to recall him, but in the long run, he wasn’t inked into the Railers lineup. But there was no reason for Calder to be called up, and Cosgrove has been a scratch for the last three Bridgeport games and missed the ECHL All-Star game due to the recall.
It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that the Railers’ affiliation with the New York Islanders isn’t working in their favor at all. It seems every time the Railers need a little help they’re either ignored by their NHL and/or AHL parent clubs, or worse, Worcester ends up losing an important piece and an inopportune moment. Islanders’ general manager Lou Lamoriello has a long track record of ignoring his minor league clubs, and his son Chris, who is the general manager of Bridgeport, seems to be following in his footsteps regarding players in the ECHL. The Railers need to run away from Lou Lamoriello as fast as they can, and many fans wouldn’t be against doing it right now midseason. It would absolutely mean no Kelly Cup playoffs for Worcester, but in the long run, it would be a textbook case of addition by subtraction as they would no longer be subject to the whims of the single most overrated front-office person in the history of the NHL and his son, who has never had and never will get a hockey job where he didn’t work for his father. As soon as someone tells me what Lamoriello has ever done in the NHL without Martin Brodeur as his goaltender I might change my mind, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
After last night’s woeful 1-for-14 performance by the Railers and Komets in the shootout this writer decided to take a look at exactly what the ECHL’s percentage was for shootout goals, and at the end of play yesterday it was 29%. Three out of ten seemed about right and looking at last season’s 30.9% and 2019-20’s 28.9% we can safely say all are in the same neighborhood. I’ve discounted the 2020-21 season as it wasn’t a full complement of teams in the league. So that shows two teams going 1 for 14 is really, really poor. This season the Railers are tenth out of the 18 teams that have participated in a shootout in goals for and are seventh out of those 18 in goals against. Oddly, both of those stats have the Railers at four for 19 for 21.1%. Worcester is 2-2 in the shootout this season, and no player has more than one shootout goal.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 24 Jack Quinlivan
2. FW – 8 Jack Dugan
3. WOR – 19 Blade Jenkins
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Callin.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Jenkins / Callin
Piercey / Pivonka / Cipollone
Howdeshell / White / Robbins
Bakanov / Quinlivan / X
Welsh / Garat
Kulakov / Copeland
Verrier / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
Hartford 3, Bridgeport 0
In the ECHL’s North Division
Adirondack 5, Trois-Rivières 2
Reading 5, Maine 1
Norfolk 2 Newfoundland 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 0 2 0 – 4
Fort Wayne 1 1 1 0 – 3
1st Period-1, Worcester, Jenkins 10 (Verrier, Callin), 5:58. 2, Fort Wayne, Volcan 11 13:09 (SH). Penalties-De Jong Fw (tripping), 12:26; Dugan Fw (diving/embellishment), 19:52.
2nd Period-3, Fort Wayne, Linden 16 (Dugan, Ganske), 16:58. Penalties-Supryka Fw (hooking), 6:02; Kulakov Wor (charging), 11:14; Muse Wor (tripping), 11:43; Wedman Fw (holding the stick), 11:43.
3rd Period-4, Fort Wayne, Dugan 10 (Gorniak, Cormier), 8:07. 5, Worcester, Cipollone 6 (Kulakov, Piercey), 11:30. 6, Worcester, Jenkins 11 (Callin, Welsh), 18:19 (EN). Penalties-Wedman Fw (slashing), 16:13.
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout – Worcester 1 (Howdeshell NG, Jenkins NG, Repaci NG, Welsh NG, Callin NG, Bakanov NG, Quinlivan G), Fort Wayne 0 (Szydlowski NG, Dugan NG, De Jong NG, Wedman NG, Berglund NG, Cormier NG, Linden NG).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 14-7-12-4-1-38. Fort Wayne 6-15-8-3-0-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 4; Fort Wayne 0 / 1.
Goalies-Worcester, Muse 6-2-0-0 (32 shots-29 saves). Fort Wayne, Fanti 0-0-0-1 (36 shots-34 saves).
A-9,747
Referees-Nolan Bloyer (31).
Linesmen-Cameron Dykstra (79), Quinn Schafer (49).
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