SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks drop home opener in heart-breaking 3-2 loss to Penguins

The Worcester Sharks couldn’t hold on to a couple one goal leads and then allowed a power play goal with less than a minute to play in the contest to lose 3-2 to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Saturday night in a fight filled contest at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in the WorSharks home opener in front of 5,476 fans. The home loss was the tenth in a row for Worcester extending back into last season. They last won on home ice on March 25.

Below are video highlights from Sendittonews.com, but this video from AHLlive is much better but cannot be imbedded.

The start of the game was delayed about 20 minutes when after the Worcester player introductions and the national anthem the carpet laid on the ice for the opening ceremony caused an issue with the ice to the left of the Penguins net. The zamboni was called out for a quick repair, and while that was going on the two linesmen were pressed into duty to fill in a couple of gaps between the ice and the boards. With the Ringling Brothers circus and Pearl Jam playing at the DCU Center since it reopened from renovations the ice sheet hadn’t gotten “broken in” so to speak, and it showed early on in the game.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Collin Bowman (head), Riley Brace, Adam Comrie, Dylan DeMelo, Lane Scheidl (knee), and Daniil Tarasov (lower body). Troy Grosenick was the backup goaltender. Springfield Falcons defenseman Will Weber was suspended one game for his hit on Tarasov last Saturday. Tarasov was not seriously injured and is expected back soon. There was some confusion amongst fans when Worcester recalled Bowman earlier this week, but it turns out that Bowman was injured in the first preseason game between Worcester and Providence and has not recovered yet. Just like the NHL rule prohibiting injured players from being assigned to the AHL the American Hockey League has the same rule about assignment of injured players to lower league, which necessitated Bowman being added to Worcester’s roster.

One has to wonder if WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer notices when one of his players is not having a good game. Marek Viedensky looked pretty bad last night and yet Sommer had him out on the last game penalty kill. You could see that something was going to happen and when Viedensky was slow to get over to cover Penguins defenseman Brendan Mikkelson within a couple seconds the puck was behind Worcester goaltender Harri Sateri.

There was a scary moment last in the second period when Rob Davison was struck in the head by a booming slap shot. Davison crumpled to the ice and referee Gino Binda quickly blew the play dead. Davison skated to the dressing room under his own power and returned to start the third period.

It’s great that Bracken Kearns is willing to stand up for his teammates and himself, but being in the penalty box for 17 minutes–an instigator to go with his fighting major–is far too long for Worcester’s best offensive threat to be sitting. He needs to pick his spots better. Kearns’ 22 minutes in penalties in two games leads the WorSharks, and that’s not what you want from the player that’s supposed to be your best offensive weapon.

The three stars of the game were
1. WBS – 14 Tom Kuhnhackl (2g)
2. WOR – 12 Freddie Hamilton (g)
3. WBS – 25 Andrew Ebbett (g,a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was John McCarthy

Even strength lines
McCarthy/Kearns/Hayes
Schwartz/Hamilton/Reid
Gogol/Viedensky/Stalberg
Bonneau/Oleksuk/Livingston

Tennyson/Abeltshauser
Acolatse/Davison
Doherty/Petrecki

Boxscore

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Hamilton 1 (Reid, Schwartz), 9:27. Penalties-McNeill Wbs (fighting), 1:43; Gogol Wor (boarding, fighting), 1:43; Gibbons Wbs (fighting), 1:54; Kuhnhackl Wbs (tripping), 1:54; Thompson Wbs (misconduct – continuing altercation), 1:54; Kearns Wor (instigating, fighting, misconduct – instigating), 1:54.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Letourneau-Leblond Wbs (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 0:00; Bonneau Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 0:00; Acolatse Wor (interference), 2:02; Harrington Wbs (interference), 9:19; Schwartz Wor (goaltender interference), 12:27; Letourneau-Leblond Wbs (fighting), 15:16; Doherty Wor (fighting), 15:16; Livingston Wor (hooking), 18:14.

3rd Period-2, W-B/Scranton, Kuhnhackl 2 (Ebbett, Payerl), 1:48. 3, Worcester, McCarthy 1 (Acolatse, Kearns), 4:02. 4, W-B/Scranton, Ebbett 1 (Carman, Dumoulin), 12:45. 5, W-B/Scranton, Kuhnhackl 3 (Mikkelson, Harrington), 19:20 (PP). Penalties-Payerl Wbs (roughing), 1:48; Acolatse Wor (roughing), 1:48; Uher Wbs (hooking), 12:53; Tennyson Wor (holding), 17:40.

Shots on Goal-W-B/Scranton 4-10-9-23. Worcester 11-6-13-30.
Power Play Opportunities-W-B/Scranton 1 / 5; Worcester 0 / 2.
Goalies-W-B/Scranton, Mannino 1-0-0 (30 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Sateri 0-2-0 (23 shots-20 saves).
A-5,476
Referees-Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Brian MacDonald (72), Todd Whittemore (70).