SHARKSPAGE

Moore Crazed Rats Equals WorSharks Victory

The Worcester Sharks got two goals from Mike Moore and seven points from the revamped Crazed Rats line to defeat the Norfolk Admirals 3-1 Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 2,404 fans. The win allowed the WorSharks to split their four game season series with Norfolk, with each team winning both of their home games.

The WorSharks came out with same intensity as they did against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Saturday night, but despite Worcester carrying the play the best scoring chance early in the opening stanza came from Norfolk when Pierre-Cedric Labrie broke in on Worcester goaltender Alex Stalock all alone. Labrie fired a hard wrist shot toward the low corner, but Stalock made a great stretching glove save to keep the score even.

It was the revamped Crazed Rats line that would get Worcester on the board first after center Andrew Desjardins shot went wide to the left of Admirals netminder Cedrick Desjardins. The puck rebounded off the back wall to the opposite side of the net where Kevin Henderson, playing on the line’s left wing, scooped up the puck and found Dan DaSilva standing all alone with a nice backhand pass. DaSilva, who had to that point gone without a goal all season, wasted no time in firing the puck into the Norfolk net for the 1-0 lead at 14:37.

Norfolk almost got the game even with about nine minutes left in the second period while on the power play on a lucky bounce, but it turned out the WorSharks were just a little bit luckier. While blocking a shooting lane from the left wing side Desjardins was just able to get a stick on a huge blast from the point. Stalock had a bead on where the shot was originally heading, but couldn’t get over in time to block the redirected puck as it streaked toward the low corner. Luckily for Worcester, the puck rang off the low post and deflected right across the open goal mouth and out of harm’s way.

The Crazed Rats would figure on Mike Moore’s first of the season after the defenseman gathered up a pass from center Desjardins and lead the rush up ice three on two. Just as Moore got to the blue line he fed Henderson the puck and went directly to toward the net where Henderson’s return pass from the left wing hit him in stride. Moore’s blast from the slot beat goaltender Desjardins five-hole to light the lamp at 13:27 of the second period.

Norfolk would cut the lead in half at 18:06 after Worcester got caught running around in their own zone. After Norfolk was able to make a rolling change of players while hemming the WorSharks into their own zone Stalock made a save of Radko Gudas’ blast from the blue line through a screen. But unfortunately for Worcester the puck bounced away and Admirals’ center Paul Szczechura was able to break away from the pack of players in the slot to gather the puck and fire it over the downed Stalock into the top corner.

Worcester would light the lamp again in the second period with 17.4 seconds remaining after Jonathan Cheechoo knocked a high rebound into the Norfolk net, but it was clear to those in press row that it was knocked in with his hand and the goal shouldn’t count. Referee Terry Koharski originally ruled the goal good, but after a wild scrum of players was broken up behind the Norfolk net the two linesmen conferred with Koharski at the referee’s crease. After what seemed like a very long time to discuss the play Koharski correctly changed his call to no goal.

Moore’s second goal of the game would count without question, and it came off a play that looked harmless for Norfolk. After Worcester passed the puck around the zone it ended up on Moore’s stick at the left wing point. With no better option open to Moore he fired the puck on net into a screen of players in front of goaltender Desjardins. The puck went through the group of players and past the screened Desjardins into the top corner to give Worcester a 3-1 lead at 6:26 of the third. DaSilva and Henderson had the assists on the goal.

Norfolk would try to up the pressure but Stalock and the defense would hold firm, including a great diving play by Sean Sullivan to foil a potential breakaway attempt by the Admirals. After Norfolk’s Mathieu Roy was called for holding after hauling down T.J. Trevelyan at 18:54 with goaltender Desjardins off for an extra attacker head coach Roy Sommer took away the chances of Norfolk making a miracle shorthanded comeback by putting out the Crazed Rats in place of his normal power play unit. He did add Moore to the defensive mix in an attempt to get the blue liner a hat trick, but Moore and his teammates showed more interested in keeping the puck away from the Admirals as opposed to trying to score.

GAME NOTES
The WorSharks went with the same line-up as Saturday night except for the expected change, with Matt Irwin playing and Joe Loprieno sitting out as a health scratch. Worcester’s injury list remains unchanged with Cam MacIntyre (groin), Carter Hutton (groin), and Tony Lucia (concussion) all still sidelined. Riley Gill was the backup netminder. There might be some good news on MacIntyre, who has started skating but still isn’t participating in any contact. MacIntyre has yet to play in a game this season.

Not only were the Crazed Rats on the ice for all three WorSharks goals, the defensive pairing of Nick Schaus and Mike Moore were also on the ice for all the tallies. Each of the five finished the game at +3. At one point this season every Worcester player was even or worse, but lately the pendulum has swung the other direction and now six players are in positive numbers.

Mike Ricci joined head coach Roy Sommer and assistant coach Dave Cunniff behind the bench.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 8 Mike Moore (2g,+3)
2. WOR – 23 Dan DaSilva (g,a,+3)
3. WOR – 47 Kevin Henderson (2a,+3)

Mike Moore was also the AHL’s third star of the day.

The Sharkspage player of the game was Kevin Henderson.

Even Strength Lines
Cheechoo/Ferriero/Wingles
Mashinter/Zalewski/Trevelyan
Henderson/Desjardins/DaSilva
(everyone)/Quirk/Marcou

Moore/Schaus
Petrecki/Sullivan
Leach/Braun
Irwin

Penalty Kill Lines
Desjardins/Henderson
Quirk(Ferriero)/Wingles

Moore/Schaus
Braun(Sullivan)/Leach

Power play Lines
Trevelyan/Cheechoo/Marcou
Mashinter/Zalewski/Wingles

Ferriero/Braun
Sullivan/Irwin

BOXSCORE
Norfolk 0 1 0 – 1
Worcester 1 1 1 – 3

1st Period-1, Worcester, DaSilva 1 (Desjardins, Henderson), 14:34. Penalties-Durno Nor (holding), 15:51; Gudas Nor (hooking), 17:44.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Moore 1 (Henderson, Desjardins), 13:27. 3, Norfolk, Szczechura 8 (Gudas, Labrie), 18:06. Penalties-Marcou Wor (holding), 2:45; Schaus Wor (tripping), 9:10; Zalewski Wor (roughing), 14:28; Jones Nor (hooking), 18:42.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Moore 2 (DaSilva, Henderson), 6:26. Penalties-Braun Wor (interference), 9:52; Roy Nor (hooking), 18:54.

Shots on Goal-Norfolk 6-10-12-28. Worcester 11-6-8-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Norfolk 0/4; Worcester 0/4.
Goalies-Norfolk, Desjardins 4-3-1 (25 shots-22 saves). Worcester, Stalock 5-5-1 (28 shots-27 saves).
A-2,404
Referee-Terry Koharski (10). Linesmen-Bob Bernard (42), Chris Aughe (74).