SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks Iced By Penguins 5-3, Fall Further Behind In Playoff Race

The Worcester Sharks had the lead twice against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins but couldn’t hold it either time, and has been happening far too often surrendered the game winning goal in the third period and dropped a 5-3 decision Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in front of 8,227 fans. The loss drops the WorSharks four points behind Connecticut for the last guaranteed playoff spot in the AHL’s Atlantic division, and three points behind Binghamton for the playoff crossover spot.

Sharkspage didn’t make the trip to the Keystone State, and neither did Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. So for the particulars we’ll left with Tom Venesky of the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader and Jonathan Bombulie of the The Scranton Times Tribune.

And, as usual, the WorSharks and Penguins official sites have their points of view.

GAME NOTES
As was rumored Friday, the WorSharks have indeed signed Robert Morris University standout Nathan Longpre to an ATO and the forward played Saturday night against the Penguins. You can add Mike Swift to the injury list with a cut on his hand suffered Friday night in Providence. Patrick Davis was also injured Friday night when he took a puck to the face, but he was in the line-up for Worcester Saturday. Harri Sateri got his first North American pro start against the Penguins after seeing a period of relief action Friday night, and Carter Hutton was the back-up netminder.

Both John McCarthy (3g,3a) and Tommy Wingels (5g,1a) have five game points streaks. No other player on the roster has even a two game streak active.

Tyson Sexsmith, sent down to the Stockton Thunder (ECHL) earlier this week, is showing his demotion won’t effect his play as he has defeated the Idaho Steelheads twice so far this weekend. Friday night saw him make 29 saves on 31 shots and all seven shootout attempts for 3-2 win. One of the two goals he surrendered was against an extra attacker. On Saturday Sexsmith was the third star of the game in stopping 23 of 24 attempts during a 5-1 victory over the same Steelheads. Sunday will see these two squads meet again.

The three stars of the game were
1. WBS – 24 Tim Wallace (2g)
2. WBS – 44 Keven Veilleux 2a)
3. WBS – 2 Corey Potter (g)

For being the only player with a goal and a “plus” rating for Worcester, Cam MacIntyre is the Sharkspage player of the game.

BOXSCORE
Worcester 2 0 1 – 3
W-B/Scranton 1 2 2 – 5

1st Period-1, Worcester, MacIntyre 4 (Quirk), 10:21. 2, W-B/Scranton, Sill 9 (Veilleux, Wagner), 13:42. 3, Worcester, DaSilva 15 (Landry, McCarthy), 16:44 (PP). Penalties-Walker Wbs (boarding), 10:32; Wallace Wbs (tripping), 15:08; McLaren Wor (roughing, roughing), 17:28; Boulerice Wbs (roughing, roughing), 17:28.

2nd Period-4, W-B/Scranton, Sterling 23 (Hutchinson, Street), 0:39 (PP). 5, W-B/Scranton, Potter 4 (Collins), 10:48 (PP). Penalties-McCarthy Wor (roughing), 0:20; McGinn Wor (roughing), 4:30; Collins Wbs (roughing), 4:30; Landry Wor (hooking), 9:00; McGinn Wor (roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 9:24; Boulerice Wbs (roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 9:24; McLaren Wor (tripping), 10:45; Wagner Wbs (holding), 16:55.

3rd Period-6, Worcester, Wingels 16 (Trevelyan, Ferriero), 3:19 (PP). 7, W-B/Scranton, Wallace 19 (Veilleux), 11:16. 8, W-B/Scranton, Wallace 20 (Collins, Craig), 19:59 (EN). Penalties-Bortuzzo Wbs (tripping), 0:09; Veilleux Wbs (roughing), 2:56; Moore Wor (tripping), 4:10; Bortuzzo Wbs (roughing), 7:04; Hutchinson Wbs (boarding), 8:35; Irwin Wor (slashing), 15:43.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 8-4-10-22. W-B/Scranton 6-10-10-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 2/7; W-B/Scranton 2/5.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 0-1-0 (25 shots-21 saves). W-B/Scranton, Thiessen 30-7-1 (22 shots-19 saves).
A-8,227
Referees-Ryan Fraser (14). Linesmen-Matt McNulty (26), Bob Fyrer (72).