The Worcester Railers have picked a really bad time to forget how to play hockey. Not that there’s a good time mind you, but in the midst of a playoff chase is the absolute worst time for a bunch of guys who play hockey for a living to suddenly look like they’ve never seen a puck before as the Railers did in their opening period against Maine Friday night, where they allowed four goals en route to a 6-2 loss at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
The Mariners opened the scoring just 1:15 into the contest when all five Worcester skaters ended up to the right of goaltender Henrik Tikkanen’s net, with four of them not covering anyone. Owen Pederson fed Xander Lamppa all alone in front of the net to the left of Tikkanen, and then it was 1-0.
A little later in the frame Maine was in their attacking zone for over 30 seconds without the Railers registering a single hit, and this time all five Worcester skaters ended up to the left of Tikkanen. Bennett Stockdale threw a cross-slot pass to Gabriel Chicoine which set up a mini two-on-none against Tikkanen, and at 6:52 Chicoine’s laser high to the stick side made it 2-0.
This would have been a great spot for a quick goaltender change, not because Tikkanen was playing poorly but because that’s a signal a head coach can give his players that they’re the ones causing the issue and need to wake up. The change doesn’t need to be a long one, just until the team decides that it wants to play hockey. Railers head coach Jordan Smotherman decided not to do that. Heck, it’s even possible the thought never crossed his mind.
Trevor Cosgrove then cut that Maine lead in half.
First, the good news: The Railers did not allow a goal within two minutes of Cosgrove scoring that one. The bad news: it was 2:24 later when the Mariners dumped the puck into the Worcester zone where defenders Cosgrove and Zsombor Garat nonchalantly went after it. Cosgrove turned the puck over, and with Garat meekly waving his stick at the puck as it slid by Sebastian Vidmar flipped it past Tikkanen for the 3-1 Maine lead at 13:09.
Brooklyn Kalmikov then made it 4-1 at 16:58 because there is no one on the Worcester roster that can muscle a player away from the front of their net, and despite outnumbering the Mariners in front of Tikkanen’s net four to two Kalmikov was able to get one through and past Tikkanen.
Reece Newkirk had the only goal of the middle period, and it was a nice one.
With five seconds left in the middle frame, Zach White took a needless hooking penalty, and any hopes for another miracle comeback were dashed just 30 seconds into the final period when Adam Mechura made it 5-2 with a power play tally. Connor Doherty potted an empty net goal late in the game for the 6-2 final.
As poorly as the Railers played they still control their own playoff destiny. Winning their five remaining games in regulation will be more than enough, plus there’s a handful of other scenarios where they can qualify.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were John Copeland (IR/unknown), Ryan Dickinson (IR/unknown), Austin Heidemann, Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Jack Quinlivan (IR/unknown), C.J. Regula, Anthony Repaci (IR/upper body), and Ryan Scarfo. John Muse was the backup goaltender.
Before Friday’s game Reece Newkirk, who was re-assigned by the NI Islanders to Bridgeport on Monday, was once again returned to the Railers. Earlier in the week newcomer Mason Klee was signed to an ATO by the San Jose Barracuda, and Friday afternoon Worcester released forward Michael Gildon.
Maine wore their green jerseys, which look incredible, and we were once again robbed of a possible color-on-color match-up as the Railers went with their white sweaters. There was little chance the color rush matchup was going to happen with Worcester likely wearing their orange third jerseys Saturday for the “Jersey off their backs” auction, and the way things turned out it’s probably better the Railers wore white anyway so everyone can just forget about this game.
With the ECHL disbanding the Newfoundland Growlers, which we’ll have more about that situation in Sunday’s game post, all of the players on ECHL contracts with the team became unrestricted free agents, and teams were allowed to sign up to two of those players. Zach O’Brien would obviously be near the top of everyone’s list, but as of yet, he hasn’t signed with anyone. Of the remaining players, the one this writer would have been most interested in was Mathieu Gosselin. And, unfortunately, so were the Toronto Marlies, the AHL affiliate of the Growlers. They quickly signed Gosselin to a try-out contract. The rest aren’t a significant improvement over what Worcester already has, so the fact that Railers General Manager Jordan Smotherman hasn’t signed any of the ex-Newfoundland players shouldn’t earn anything more than a shrug. The Growlers did have three right-shooting defenders, something Worcester needs, but if they decide to not grab one it’s again, just a shrug.
Just a quick note of a couple of other games in the ECHL last night, with the penalty listing being all you need to know about them.
In case anyone is wondering, the Railers’ record for penalty minutes in a game is 101, set on October 25, 2017, at Colorado, which was just Worcester’s third-ever game in the ECHL. Yanick Turcotte’s 34 PIM is still the franchise record for a single game.
The three stars of the game were:
1. MNE – 8 Sebastian Vidmar
2. MNE – 18 Bennett Stockdale
3. MNE – 1 Brad Arvanitis
The 210Sports Player of the Game was birthday boy Steve Conway.
Even Strength Lines
Bakanov / Jenkins / Callin
Newkirk / Pivonka / Calder
Howdeshell / White / Robbins
Piercey / Cipollone / X
Krygier / Cosgrove
Verrier / Welsh
Garat / Kulakov
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Norfolk 5, Reading 1
Allen 3, Adirondack 2 SO
Standings
(“REM” is games remaining)
| TEAM | PTS | PTS % | REM | vs WOR |
| X-ADK | 87 | .659 | 6 | 0 |
| X-NOR | 87 | .640 | 1 | 0 |
| ME | 69 | .523 | 6 | 2 |
| TR | 66 | .500 | 3 | 3 |
| WOR | 66 | .493 | 5 | X |
| REA | 63 | .457 | 3 | 0 |
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 1 0 – 2
Maine 4 0 2 – 6
1st Period-1, Maine, Lamppa 3 (Pederson, Sarlo), 1:15. 2, Maine, Chicoine 15 (Stockdale, Vidmar), 6:52. 3, Worcester, Cosgrove 10 (Jenkins, Callin), 10:45. 4, Maine, Vidmar 9 (Stockdale, Malatesta), 13:09. 5, Maine, Kalmikov 18 (Kile), 16:58. Penalties-Kalmikov Mne (hooking), 4:30.
2nd Period-6, Worcester, Newkirk 6 (Calder), 3:29. Penalties-White Wor (hooking), 19:55.
3rd Period-7, Maine, Mechura 21 (Kile, Chicoine), 0:30 (PP). 8, Maine, Doherty 1 17:35 (EN). Penalties-Robbins Wor (slashing, roughing), 5:02; Ritchie Mne (slashing, roughing), 5:02; Arvanitis Mne (tripping), 6:45; Chicoine Mne (high-sticking), 8:52.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 9-8-13-30. Maine 12-7-9-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Maine 1 / 1.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 9-6-1-1 (27 shots-22 saves). Maine, Arvanitis 19-8-2-0 (30 shots-28 saves).
A-4,863
Referees-Michael Zyla (34), Tyler Hascall (8).
Linesmen-Stephen Drain (52), Antoine Bujold-Roux (72).
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