SHARKSPAGE

Reid scores two as WorSharks, Sateri blank Pirates, 5-0

The Worcester Sharks took advantage of a team not playing well and on the strength of two Brodie Reid goals and twenty-five saves by Harri Sateri took out some previous frustrations by pounding the Portland Pirates 5-0 Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 3,162 very vocal fans.

In the previous meeting between the two clubs Pirates enforcer Mike Hoffman did battle with Jimmy Bonneau after Bonneau had been injured by a check, and it was obvious that Bonneau wanted some payback as once Hoffman was on the ice for a face-off Bonneau jumped the boards to line-up with him. It took almost the whole shift before Hoffman would go, but Bonneau was able to extract some revenge and set the tone for the entire game. Soon after the fight Nick Petrecki reinforced that the WorSharks wouldn’t be pushed around with a huge hit on former Sharks prospect Ashton Rome.

The WorSharks power play hasn’t exactly been impressive as of late, but they made their first chance against Portland count when Brandon Mashinter threw a nice feed to Brodie Reid breaking into the Pirates zone. Reid unleashed a 30 foot wrist shot that beat Portland goaltender Justin Pogge clean to the blocker side to light the lamp at 6:49 of the opening period. Sean Sullivan had the second assist on the play for his pass from the WorSharks zone to Mashinter at the left wing dot just outside the blueline.

The rookie didn’t let scoring the opening goal go to his head, and during his next shift after getting caught flat-footed in the neutral zone Reid skated hard back to the WorSharks net to catch his man to break up a great scoring chance by timing a stick lift perfectly. He then cleared away a loose puck to keep Worcester in the lead.

Portland came out of the gate in the second period with a little more life than the opening twenty minutes and that’s when Sateri really had to be on his game, making several nice stops including a very nice pad save on Brock Trotter. One shot did manage to get past Sateri but Sullivan, who had lost his helmet earlier in the play, swooped in and swept the puck off the goal line.

With Mashinter and Rome in the box for matching roughing calls the teams skated four on four, and John McCarthy took advantage of the extra space to give himself a little more room to shoot. Mike Connolly found McCarthy wide open in the slot with a pass from behind the goal line, and McCarthy slapped the puck home past Pogge from about five feet out to make it 2-0 at 15:12. Matt Irwin had the secondary assist.

Reid would make it 3-0 on a play very similar to McCarthy’s tally. In a goal that’s officially a power play tally because Jack Combs had stepped out of the penalty box to give the WorSharks a man advantage newcomer Alex Bourret found Reid all alone just inside the right wing circle from behind the goal line and Reid’s one-timer beat Pogge at 17:55. Sena Acolatse picked up an assist for flipping the puck in deep around the boards to Bourret.

Even though the WorSharks were obviously playing a more defensive game in the third period trying to protect Sateri’s shutout bid they still had several great scoring chances. Marek Viedensky was stoned twice by Pogge while shorthanded, including once getting a great shot off with a Pirates defender draped over him like a blanket. Connolly and Combs took advantage of the Pirates pushing to score by breaking into the Portland zone two on one. Combs held the puck as long as he could to force the defender to make a play, and as soon as there was an opening threw a cross slot pass to Connolly. The pass was slightly behind the onrushing forward, but Connolly got just enough of it to deflected it along the ice and just inside the far post at 13:54 to make it 4-0. Sullivan grabbed the second assist.

While most folks were on the edge of their seats on every save Sateri made rooting for the shutout, and the netminder had to make several good ones along the way, the WorSharks took advantage of the Pirates slowing up a little. With a delayed call coming up on Portland James Livingston took an outlet pass from Bourret off the right wing boards and broke in all alone beating Pogge high glove to light the lamp for the first time in 30 games at 18:18. Ryan Del Monte is credited with the secondary assist.

All that was left was to see if Sateri would get his first professional shutout, and after a few tense moments the WorSharks held firm to keep the Pirates off the board. Worcester finished the game two for three on the power play and a perfect seven for seven on the penalty kill.

GAME NOTES
The WorSharks went with the same skaters all weekend, with the only change being Pelech moving up to forward and Acolatse moving back to defense. If the WorSharks are going to continue to play seven defensemen Pelech at forward looks to be their best option. The win improves Worcester’s record dressing seven defensemen to 2-3-1.

In addition to the Jimmy Bonneau/Mike Hoffman scrap the WorSharks were in two other battles, with Nathan Moon taking on Ethan Werek and Taylor Doherty dropping the mitts with Ryan Hollweg in battles that were fairly even. With the three fights Worcester now has 62 through 35 games, the most in the AHL. The WorSharks also have at least one fight in 21 straight games (45 fights total in those 21 games). Moon and Warek also got together after the final horn and both picked up high sticking minors.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – Sateri (25 save shutout)
2. WOR – Reid (2g)
3. WOR – Viedensky (great plays while shorthanded)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Mike Connolly.

Even strength lines
Connolly/McCarthy/Combs
Reid/Moon/Mashinter
Bourret/Del Monte/Livingston
Pelech/Viedensky/Bonneau

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Acolatse
Petrecki/Doherty

BOXSCORE

Portland 0 0 0 – 0
Worcester 1 2 2 – 5

1st Period-1, Worcester, Reid 6 (Mashinter, Sullivan), 6:49 (PP). Penalties-Hoffman Por (fighting), 1:38; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 1:38; Brodeur Por (cross-checking), 5:09; Bourret Wor (roughing), 7:09; Hollweg Por (roughing), 16:05; Livingston Wor (roughing, goaltender interference), 16:05; Del Monte Wor (hooking), 18:32.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, McCarthy 10 (Connolly, Irwin), 15:12. 3, Worcester, Reid 7 (Bourret, Acolatse), 17:55 (PP). Penalties-Summers Por (holding the stick), 1:20; Rome Por (roughing), 13:58; Werek Por (fighting), 13:58; Mashinter Wor (roughing), 13:58; Moon Wor (fighting, misconduct – continuing altercation), 13:58; Combs Wor (slashing), 15:53; Goncharov Por (hooking), 17:20; Petrecki Wor (tripping), 18:22.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Connolly 7 (Combs, Sullivan), 13:54. 5, Worcester, Livingston 3 (Bourret, Del Monte), 18:18. Penalties-McCarthy Wor (hooking), 8:25; Hollweg Por (fighting), 10:45; Doherty Wor (fighting), 10:45; Bonneau Wor (delay of game), 15:09; Werek Por (high-sticking), 20:00; Moon Wor (high-sticking), 20:00.

Shots on Goal-Portland 7-8-10-25. Worcester 10-9-6-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 / 7; Worcester 2 / 3.
Goalies-Portland, Pogge 5-4-3 (25 shots-20 saves). Worcester, Sateri 8-5-0 (25 shots-25 saves).
A-3,162
Referees-T.J. Luxmore (47), Jon McIsaac (39).
Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Joe Ross (92).