SHARKSPAGE

Machesney, WorSharks Are Kings Of Checkers In 2-0 Whitewash Of Charlotte

The Worcester Sharks played one of their best games in recent memory and behind Daren Machesney’s second shutout of the season defeated the Charlotte Checkers 2-0 Saturday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 4,386 fans.

The Checkers entered the game with the number one offense in the American Hockey League, so with the goaltending issues Worcester has most observers thought the WorSharks would have to score goals in bunches to have any shot at defeating Charlotte. Thanks to Machesney, and with a little help from Benn Ferriero, one was all they would need. But it sure didn’t look like that early on as the Checkers seemed more than content to play up and down hockey with Worcester. The best chance in the early going went to Charlotte when center Zach Boychuk broke in alone on Machesney. The netminder made the save but immediately looked behind him. Luckily the rebound went harmlessly into the far corner to keep the score even.

Later in the period after some extended time in the Charlotte zone the Checkers pinned Worcester in their own zone, but a couple of blocked shots and a pad save by Machesney kept the game scoreless. In one of those plays that looked meaningless at the time but turned out to be huge, Frazer McLaren gathered a loose puck along the left wing boards and skated out to the red line, dumping the puck in on Charlotte netminder Mike Murphy. With his team needing a line change and Worcester offering a token forecheck as they changed behind the play Murphy held on to the puck to stop play. Just seconds later he would regret that decision.

On the ensuing face off Andrew Desjardins won the draw cleanly to Sean Sullivan at the blue line, and the defenseman wasted no time blasting the puck on net. Henderson, who had barely moved an inch from his staring point off the face-off, tipped the shot past Murphy at 12:15 for the 1-0 WorSharks lead.

In a scary moment with just a handful of seconds remaining in the first period linesman Bob Paquette was injured when he crashed into the boards as the teams lined up for a face-off. As Paquette skated backwards along the blue line to take his position his left skate came out from under him and he fell backwards, sliding head first into the boards. He was down for quite a while with the WorSharks trainer attending to him, but was eventually able to get to his feet. He was very wobbly, and the trainer and Dan DaSilva helped Paquette to the Zamboni entrance so he could go to the officials’ dressing room. Soon after heading to the dressing room Paquette was sent to St. Vincent’s Hospital–right across the street to the DCU center–for observation. Referee Jeff Smith took on the role as the trailing linesman as Ed Boyle stayed ahead of the play to call the blue lines.

The end to end play would continue in the second period, although the ice was tipped decidedly in Charlotte’s favor. Machesney would again come up big in the period, this time stoning center Jon Matsumoto. After some pinpoint passing through the WorSharks zone Matsumoto ended up wide open about 15 feet in front of Machesney, and he blasted a one timer that the netminder was able to flash that pad on to keep the Checkers off the board. Charlotte would get a golden chance with about 10 seconds remaining in the period, but defenseman Brett Bellemore’s rocket blast pinged off the far post. As the puck bounded along the goal line Ferriero was there to sweep from harm’s way as the period ended.

Ferriero would again save the WorSharks with just over 13 minutes remaining in the third period when Machesney was down and out with the Checker pressing. With WorSharks players diving all over the crease to prevent the puck from entering the net Ferriero was just able to get the shaft of his stick on a bouncing puck as it lay in the goal line to again swipe it away. The forward then jumped to his feet and carried the puck away to eliminate more trouble. On his next shift Ferriero had Worcester’s best chance of the period when he outraced Murphy to a loose puck, but the netminder was able to scramble back between Ferriero and the net to block the shot.

With two minutes remaining it looked like Worcester’s luck had run out when Oskar Osala grabbed a turnover in the neutral zone and skated in alone on Machesney. Osala tried jam the puck home past the right pad, but Machesney held firm at the goal line with the stick save as everyone crashed the net looking for the lose puck. But all was safe for Worcester as it was under Machesney, and again on the goal line. Soon after Charlotte pulled Murphy for an extra attacker, and after a Sean Sullivan blocked shot that saw him collapse to the ice Tommy Wingels grabbed the loose puck and fired it three quarters of the length of the ice for the empty net goal at 18:52. From that point on all that was left was preserving the shutout for Machesney.

GAME NOTES
Before the game it was announced that the Worcester Shuttle was heading back east to drop off goaltender Carter Hutton. While he is expected to arrive prior to the start of Sunday’s matinee he’s not expected to play. The WorSharks also signed former Holy Cross defenseman Jon Landry to a contract for the remainder of the year. Worcester;s injury list remains unchanged, and there’s still no word on what Jamie McGinn’s injury actually is. Joe Loprieno and Jody Pederson were healthy scratches for the WorSharks. Tyson Sexsmith was the backup netminder

Daren Machesney’s second shutout of the season ties him for third all time for Worcester, behind Alex Stalock’s four and Thomas Greiss’ three. Two of Greiss’ came in the playoffs, so Machesney’s two would put him second in regular season shutouts. Four other netminders, Dimitri Patzold, Taylor Dakers, Tyson Sexsmith, and Carter Hutton all have one. Both of Machesney’s victories this season have been by shutout. He is currently 2-2-1 with a 1.96 goals against average and a save percentage of .931 for the WorSharks. With Hutton returning one has to wonder if Machesney will be released or if Sexsmith (1-2-1 3.15 .891%) will be returned to Stockton.

Mark off Sunday’s game against Connecticut in the “must win” column, as the Whale and WorSharks are both tied for the last guaranteed playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. The WorSharks got no luck in the playoff department last night as the third team in that mix, Springfield, went to overtime Saturday against the Whale giving both squads a point in the standings. Connecticut went on to win the game on Blake Parlett’s first career AHL goal with 27.5 seconds left in overtime.

Referee Jeff Smith is known for letting the teams play, so it wasn’t a shock when Saturday night each team had two only power plays, and none of them lasted the normal two minutes. When Frazer McLaren was called for interference this writer quipped that it was only a matter of time before Smith would even it up. It took all of 72 seconds for Smith to call a penalty on Charlotte. When Jon Matsumoto was sent to the box for an automatic delay of game minor for flipping the puck into the crowd on a clearing attempt the same question was asked. This time it took 1:40. Neither team generated much offense with the extra attacker.

This season the WorSharks have given up 49 goals while shorthanded. A list of who put Worcester shorthanded when those goals were scored is:

Loprieno 5
Mashinter 5
DaSilva 4
Petrecki 4
Irwin 3
Marcou 3
McLaren 3
Quirk 3
Trevelyan 3
Cheechoo 2
Leach 2
Schaus 2
Sullivan 2
Wingels 2
Bench minor 1
Desjardins 1
Ferriero 1
Henderson 1
McCarthy 1
Pitton 1
Swift 1
Zalewski 1

Twice Worcester has given up goals down two skaters, once with Petrecki and Sullivan in the box, and once with Loprieno and DaSilva in the sin bin. Irwin, Loprieno, Marcou, and Mashinter have all had it happen twice in one game.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 1 Daren Machesney (34 save shutout)
2. WOR – 47 Kevin Henderson (gwg)
3. CHA – 31 Mike Murphy (28 saves)

Machesney was also the AHL’s third star ofthe night.

The Sharkspage player of the game could easily go to Sean Sullivan for his two assists, but we’ll give it to Benn Ferriero instead for his two goal line saves.

Even strength Lines
Mashinter/Ferriero/Trevelyan
Wingels/Quirk/Swift
Henderson/Desjardins/DaSilva
McLaren/Davis/MacIntyre

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Schaus
Petrecki/Landry

Penalty Kill Lines
Ferriero/Davis
Desjardins/Quirk

Moore/Sullivan
Petrecki/Schaus

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

Moore/Irwin

BOXSCORE
Charlotte 0 0 0 – 0
Worcester 1 0 1 – 2

1st Period-1, Worcester, Henderson 6 (Sullivan, Desjardins), 12:15. Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-McLaren Wor (interference), 15:32; Boychuk Cha (interference), 16:44.

3rd Period-2, Worcester, Wingels 11 (Sullivan), 18:52 (EN). Penalties-Matsumoto Cha (delay of game), 5:04; Irwin Wor (cross-checking), 6:44.

Shots on Goal-Charlotte 7-13-14-34. Worcester 12-6-12-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Charlotte 0/2; Worcester 0/2.
Goalies-Charlotte, Murphy 19-11-3 (29 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Machesney 2-2-1 (34 shots-34 saves).
A-4,386
Referee-Jeff Smith (49). Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Bob Paquette (18).

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