SHARKSPAGE

Irwin’s Late Blast Lifts WorSharks Over Portland, 3-2

The Worcester Sharks lost another two goal third period lead but Matt Irwin broke the WorSharks oh-for-26 power play streak in the final seconds of Sunday afternoon’s contest to defeat the Portland Pirates 3-2 at the DCU center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 3,550 fans.

The WorSharks entered the game on a streak of 132:38 without holding a lead, but through hard work in the Portland end it looked like that streak ended about five and a half minutes into the opening period when Cory Quirk banged a loose puck home with a backhander to light the lamp. Unfortunately for Worcester referee Chris Brown emphatically waved the goal off saying Kevin Henderson’s incidental contact prevented Pirates goaltender David Leggio from making the save. The video replay showed Brown probably made the correct call.

With Worcester not scoring a lot of goals as of late the focus has been on netminder Alex Stalock to keep the WorSharks in games, and he did just that with two spectacular plays in the middle of the opening period. The first was an incredible glove save on Pirates defenseman Drew Schiestel’s blast from the blue line through traffic. Stalock didn’t seem to see the puck until it was almost on top of him and had just enough time to flash the glove out to make the save. The second play happened when the Worcester defense got caught running around in its own end and WorSharks killer Mark  Mancari had the puck all alone in front of Stalock. Before Mancari could make any sort of move Stalock swept the puck off the forward’s stick and into the far corner.

Worcester would finally end their leadless streak at 149:36 when Sean Sullivan would connect off a broken play. The play began with David Marshall and Sullivan, playing right wing on Worcester’s second line after T.J. Trevelyan left the game with an injury, breaking into the Portland zone with Nick Petrecki streaking down the center of the ice and heading toward the net. The Portland defense broke up the play but Marshall kept the puck in the zone and fed it up to Petrecki in the slot. Petrecki had a hard time controlling the bouncing puck but was able to feed the puck back to the right point where Sullivan was covering. As the defense converged on Sullivan his best option was firing the puck on net, and his wrist shot beat Leggio for the 1-0 lead at 16:58.

Newcomer Ryan Del Monte would make it 2-0 at 9:34 of the second period with a laser of a wrist shot after a turnover deep in the Portland zone. With the Pirates on the verge of an odd man rush out of their zone Dan DaSilva snuck in and knocked the puck away from defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani. Del Monte then swooped in behind DaSilva and fired a wrist shot over the glove of Leggio and just inside the corner to light the lamp.

But the third period has not been kind to Worcester, and two mistakes deep in their own zone would get Portland even. The first mistake was by Steven Zalewski, who failed to make any sort of move toward Corey Tropp when the winger picked up a loose puck behind the WorSharks net and then wheeled to the front of the cage, beating Stalock to the far post at 8:15. The second was by Stalock himself when he picked up a loose puck and attempted to clear it behind his net and around  the boards and up the left side. The attempt was intercepted by Derek Whitmore, who quickly fired the puck on net from a bad angle, banking the puck off Stalock as he dove back into the crease at 14:16.

Both teams had chances to take the lead but both netminders made key saves to keep the score even. Worcester, who at that point had gone scoreless in two chances on the power play, would get a third chance when Alex Biega hauled down James Marcou in the left wing face-off circle with just 92 seconds remaining in the contest. The WorSharks power play had looked pretty poor in its first two attempts, and the third was moving along that same path until Jonathan Cheechoo threw a pass over to Justin Braun and the right point. With the clock running down and every Worcester fan in the building yelling for the rookie to shoot Braun did just that, only to have his attempt blocked by a penalty killer. Luckily for Worcester the puck bounded right to Irwin, who blasted a shot on net through traffic  just under the crossbar and past Leggio to give Worcester a 3-2 lead with just 3.3 seconds remaining.

After a Portland timeout to set up a play off the ensuing face-off Henderson and Mancari dropped the gloves almost as soon as the puck hit the ice, with Henderson landing several shots to add a winning bout to Worcester’s two points.

GAME NOTES
Prior to the start of the game the Worcester Shuttle made a stop on the east coast to pick up a surprise player; Andrew Desjardins. Worcester’s scratches were Tony Lucia (concussion), Joe Loprieno (healthy), Frazer McLaren (hip), and Cam MacIntyre (groin). carter Hutton was the back-up netminder. Winger T.J. Trevelyan suffered some sort of upper body injury early in the first period and did not return.

For those that think Worcester’s third period woes are bad, try this stat out for size. According to a list posted by a Pirates fan on one of the league’s message boards Irwin’s goal with 3.3 seconds remaining is the eleventh time this season–out of 34 games, no less–that Portland has surrendered a goal in the last minute of the game. Only twice has it been an empty net goal against. That’s enough to make you want to hit your head against a wall.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 20 Matt Irwin (gwg)
2. WOR – 9 Ryan Del Monte (g)
3. POR – 14 Corey Tropp (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Nick Petrecki.
Even Strength Lines
Zalewski/Quirk/Cheechoo
Trevelyan(Sullivan)/Marshall/Wingles
Henderson/Del Monte/DaSilva
Marcou/Henderson(and others)/Lizon

Moore/Schaus
Braun/Leach
Petrecki/Irwin

Power Play Lines
Cheechoo/Wingles/Marcou
Zalewski/Marshall/DaSilva

Braun/Irwin
Moore/Sullivan

Penalty Kill Lines
Wingles(Zalewski)/Quirk
Henderson/DaSilva(Del Monte)

Braun/Leach
Moore/Schaus

BOXSCORE
Portland 0 0 2 – 2
Worcester 1 1 1 – 3

1st Period-1, Worcester, Sullivan 10 (Petrecki, Marshall), 16:58. Penalties-Biega Por (hooking), 12:19.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Del Monte 4 (DaSilva), 9:34. Penalties-Del Monte Wor (hooking), 5:17; Cheechoo Wor (high-sticking), 14:54; DaSilva Wor (tripping), 17:16; Conboy Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00.

3rd Period-3, Portland, Tropp 5 (Stuart, Byron), 8:15. 4, Portland, Whitmore 11   14:16. 5, Worcester, Irwin 6 (Braun, Cheechoo), 19:56 (PP). Penalties-Biega Por (holding), 18:28; Mancari Por (fighting, misconduct – continuing altercation), 20:00; Henderson Wor (fighting), 20:00.

Shots on Goal-Portland 4-15-9-28. Worcester 11-3-16-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0/3; Worcester 1/3.
Goalies-Portland, Leggio 9-4-0 (30 shots-27 saves). Worcester, Stalock 15-13-2 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-3,550
Referee-Chris Brown (86). Linesmen-Joe Ross (92), Bob Bernard (42).