SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks look like guppies in 5-1 loss to Pirates

The Worcester Sharks carried absolutely no momentum from last Saturday’s shutout win over St John’s with them as they made the three hour trek north to take on the Portland Pirates as despite controlling play in the opening parts of the game they fell behind early, and Matt Pelech’s second period goal was too little, too late for the WorSharks as they dropped a 5-1 contest to the Pirates at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewsiton, Maine in front of a crowd of 2,739.

Worcester's Daniil Tarasov takes down Pirates defenseman Connor Murphy
in a bout at the end of the second period Friday night.
Photo courtesy of the PORTLAND PIRATES

For video highlights of the game we once again point at AHLlive.com

Scratches for the WorSharks were Jimmy Bonneau (leg), Adam Comrie, Nick Petrecki, and Lane Scheidl (knee). Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender. Earlier in the week the WorSharks sent defenseman Collin Bowman and winger Riley Brace to San Francisco of the ECHL.

The assist on the WorSharks lone goal is Konrad Abeltshauser’s first pro point. The fight for Tarasov was his first in the AHL, but not his first as a pro. Tarasov fought Stockton’s Shawn Boutin on December 17th of last year, of which witnesses say Tarasov won, making him 2-0 as a pro.

Some “not so great” stats for Worcester:
*Friday night the Providence Bruins, who Worcester will face off Saturday at the DCU Center, scored eight goals. Worcester has eight goals over their last 12 periods of play.
*Bruins forwards Craig Cunningham and Matt Fraser had more goals for Providence last night, four and three respectively, than every Worcester player has all season excepting Tarasov, who has six.
*No AHL team has played fewer games than the WorSharks, but in spite of that they are 29th in the league in goal differential at (-9). Only the expansion Utica Comets (-19) are worse.

A scratch your head stat: every player for the Portland Pirates that had penalty minutes last night also had points excepting Andy Miele, who is usually the player that racks up points against the WorSharks. Go figure.

The three stars of the game were
1. POR – 38 Lucas Lessio (2g)
2. POR – 29 Mark Visentin (45 saves)
3. POR – 15 Brandon McMillan (g,a)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Matt Pelech.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 0 1 0 – 1
Portland 1 3 1 – 5

1st Period-1, Portland, McMillan 1 (Brown, Murphy), 6:37. Penalties-Yip Por (holding), 8:26; served by Lessio Por (bench minor – too many men), 14:14; Acolatse Wor (holding), 15:16; Livingston Wor (hooking), 19:20; Demelo Wor (roughing), 19:28; Brown Por (roughing), 19:28.

2nd Period-2, Portland, Yip 2 (McMillan, Murphy), 6:24. 3, Portland, Brule 3 (Yip, Gormley), 8:53 (PP). 4, Worcester, Pelech 1 (Abeltshauser, Stalberg), 10:21. 5, Portland, Lessio 1 (Todd, Brodeur), 14:01. Penalties-Miele Por (cross-checking), 1:32; Pelech Wor (elbowing), 7:43; Hayes Wor (interference), 14:17; Demelo Wor (roughing), 15:11; Brule Por (roughing), 15:11; Doherty Wor (roughing, fighting, game misconduct – secondary altercation), 20:00; Tarasov Wor (fighting), 20:00; Brown Por (roughing, fighting, game misconduct – secondary altercation), 20:00; Murphy Por (fighting), 20:00.

3rd Period-6, Portland, Lessio 2 (Brule, Gormley), 2:34. Penalties-Gogol Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 3:04; Miele Por (slashing), 11:39; Gormley Por (slashing), 18:23; Miele Por (misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:23.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 15-13-18-46. Portland 8-10-11-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 5; Portland 1 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 1-5-0 (29 shots-24 saves). Portland, Visentin 3-3-1 (46 shots-45 saves).
A-2,739
Referees-Jean-Philippe Sylvain (16).
Linesmen-Joe Andrews (32), Joe Ross (92).