SHARKSPAGE

McGinn, WorSharks Chomp Monarchs 5-2

The Worcester Sharks used two goals from Jamie McGinn and a solid goaltending performance from Tyson Sexsmith to defeat the Atlantic division leading Manchester Monarchs 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of a crowd of 5,052.

It didn’t take long for WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer’s decision to add McGinn to the Crazed Rats line to show dividends when just 59 seconds into the contest referee David Banfield awarded the left winger a penalty shot after being tackled by the Manchester defense while on a breakaway. Banfield also had his arm up to call a minor on Manchester well before McGinn broke in, so Worcester should have also gone on the power play after the penalty shot. Monarchs netminder Martin Jones made a right skate save on McGinn’s attempt but no player was sent to the sin bin afterward, denying Worcester a power play chance they deserved.

At 2:59 Nick Petrecki would get the hometown crowd back on its feet with a huge open ice hit against John Zeiler and then by dropping the gloves against Ryan Clune, who had skated over to Petrecki to object to the clean check. Petrecki would earn an extra roughing minor in the bout, which the WorSharks killed with near perfection. Worcester’s next penalty kill, which was the result of a terrible hooking minor called by referee Mark Lemelin against Matt Irwin when it was actually a holding the stick minor against Manchester, wasn’t as good as their first kill and twice required a little help from the posts behind Sexsmith.

After a scoreless first period Sommer again sent out the Crazed Rats line to start the period, and this time McGinn lit the lamp. After Worcester pinned the Monarchs in their zone McGinn picked a clearing chance out of the air at the blue line. The Manchester defense was able to recover the puck, but McGinn stole it away and broke in on Jones, beating the netminder over the glove with a nice backhander for the unassisted goal just 21 seconds into the middle stanza. Oscar Moller had a golden chance to get the Monarch even just moments later, but Sexsmith was able to flash out the left pad to keep Manchester off the board. It would take an unlucky bounce a couple of minutes later for the Monarchs to get even.

Manchester defenseman Colten Teubert threw an easy shot on net that was blocked by Irwin. Unfortunately for the rookie defenseman the puck got hung up in his jersey and when it dropped he was unable to gather the puck. Brandon Kozun took a swipe at the puck and got just enough of it to knock it over to Corey Elkins, who beat Sexsmith with a close in blast at 3:02.

Worcester would take advantage of a bouncing puck to get the lead back while on the power play. While under pressure in the offensive zone Jonathan Cheechoo threw a pass to Benn Ferriero at the blue line. Ferriero had to work had to control the puck, and elected to dump it deep into the Monarchs zone. On its way to the far corner the puck hit Teubert and bounced right to T.J. Trevelyan, who flipped a backhander past Jones at 5:54.

The Monarchs would have a great chance to get even midway though the period with over 90 seconds of two man advantage, but the WorSharks penalty kill was incredible in not allowing a single shot on net and defending two passes across the slot to kill scoring chances. When the dust settled it would be Worcester getting a two goal lead when Nick Schaus took a Petrecki feed and broke into the Manchester zone on the right wing side. Schaus sidestepped a Viatcheslav Voynov open ice check and put the puck on net. The soft shot hit defenseman David Kolomatis and rolled into the net at 14:20 for the 3-1 lead. Brandon Mashinter had the second assist on the play.

As has been well documented the third period has not been kind to the WorSharks, and it looked like Worcester was falling in to the same trap when Elkins deflected a centering feed from David Meckler past Sexsmith at 2:37. Things looked even worse for Worcester when Irwin was called for a high sticking minor with just under six minutes to go in the contest, but again Worcester’s penalty kill was up to the challenge and instead of getting even Manchester would find themselves down two after Mike Moore sent McGinn into the Monarchs zone all alone. After trying to go low on his penalty shot try McGinn used a different tactic and fired a hard wrist shot past the blocker of Jones for the shorthanded tally at 16:05. Ferriero was credited with the secondary assist.

Tommy Wingels would give the WorSharks more breathing room just 65 seconds later when he skated down the left wing side and unleashed a laser that beat Jones to the glove side and banked off the far post and in to light the lamp to make it 5-2. Mashinter and Michael Swift had the assists on the goal. Manchester won’t have to wait long to seek some revenge as the two teams meet again Friday night in Worcester.

GAME NOTES
There were a couple of transactions over the weekend, with goaltender Jeff Jakaitis being released and defenseman Jody Pederson having his contract upgraded from a PTO to an AHL/ECHL deal. Patrick Davis, Kevin Henderson, and Joe Loprieno were all healthy scratches for Worcester.

The win broke several losing streaks. The WorSharks entered the game on a three game losing streak, and Tyson Sexsmith broke a personal two game AHL losing streak that extended back to February 7, 2010. Worcester also had lost four straight to Manchester before Sunday’s win. But there was no person more excited about breaking a losing streak than national anthem singer Josie Lundin (née Brown, as she was introduced by public address announcer George Brown, and is no relation), who was on a personal three game losing streak when singing the anthem for the WorSharks.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 44 Jamie McGinn (2g)
2. MCH – 39 Corey Elkins (2g)
3. WOR – 31 Tyson Sexsmith (25 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Nick Petrecki

Even strength lines
Trevelyan/Ferriero/Cheechoo
Wingels/Swift/Mashinter
McGinn/Desjardins/DaSilva
McLaren/Quirk/MacIntyre

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Schaus
Petrecki/Pederson

Penalty kill lines
Quirk/Desjardins
Ferriero/McGinn
Swift/Wingels

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Schaus

Power play lines
Trevelyan/Ferriero/McGinn
Swift/Desjardins/Mashinter

Cheechoo/Irwin
Moore/Sullivan

BOXSCORE
Manchester 0 1 1 – 2
Worcester 0 3 2 – 5

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Clune Mch (fighting), 2:59; Petrecki Wor (roughing, fighting), 2:59; Irwin Wor (hooking), 7:37; Azevedo Mch (goaltender interference), 12:59; MacIntyre Wor (interference), 16:16.

2nd Period-1, Worcester, McGinn 6   0:21. 2, Manchester, Elkins 15 (Kozun), 3:02. 3, Worcester, Trevelyan 14 (Ferriero, Cheechoo), 5:54 (PP). 4, Worcester, Schaus 3 (Petrecki, Mashinter), 14:20. Penalties-Hickey Mch (interference), 4:54; Moore Wor (hooking), 9:27; Desjardins Wor (slashing), 9:49; Azevedo Mch (holding the stick), 11:39.

3rd Period-5, Manchester, Elkins 16 (Meckler, Mullen), 2:37. 6, Worcester, McGinn 7 (Moore, Ferriero), 16:05 (SH). 7, Worcester, Wingels 10 (Mashinter, Swift), 17:10. Penalties-Irwin Wor (high-sticking), 14:10.

Missed penalty shot-McGinn (rule 53.7) 0:59 of first period.

Shots on Goal-Manchester 8-10-9-27. Worcester 10-11-14-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 0/6; Worcester 1/3.
Goalies-Manchester, Jones 22-8-1 (35 shots-30 saves). Worcester, Sexsmith 1-0-1 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-5,052. Referees-Mark Lemelin (84), David Banfield (44). Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Bob Bernard (42).

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