SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks can’t hold two goal lead, lose 4-3 to Providence in shootout

The Worcester Sharks took a one goal second period lead and a two goal third period advantage and failed to hold on to either en route to dropping a 4-3 shootout contest to the Providence Bruins Saturday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on Jimmy Bonneau bobblefist night in front of a crowd of 5,210. It was the first shootout loss for the WorSharks this season after winning their first four bonus rounds.

Worcester's Dylan DeMelo tries to lift a backhander past Providence goaltender Malcolm Subban
during Saturday's 4-3 WorSharks shootout loss to the Baby Bruins.
Photo courtesy of JOHN FERRARONE, WORCESTER T&G

For video highlights we, as we usually do, point at AHLlive.com.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Konrad Abeltshauser, Sena Acolatse, Lane Scheidl (knee), and Sebastian Stalberg. Troy Grosenick was the backup goaltender. The Worcester Shuttle made a stop on the east coast last Friday night to pick up Matt Nieto and Freddie Hamilton. Matt Pelech was assigned to the WorSharks but did not arrive for game time. Mike Ricci joined coaches Roy Sommer and Dave Cunniff behind the Worcester bench.

There was a scary moment in the second period when a Dan DaSilva wrist shot hit Travis Oleksuk square in the face. Oleksuk was down for just a short while and started skating to the bench before Worcester trainer Matt White could get to him. Even with a towel on his face Oleksuk left a trail of blood behind him that was fairly significant, so much so that the linesmen couldn’t scrape up all of it and in the next stoppage of play the ice crew was summoned to do the job. As one might guess DaSilva was shaken up for causing the injury and several of his teammates could be seen consoling him. The first thing Oleksuk did after returning to the bench was pat DaSilva on the head. Despite being across the ice from the Worcester bench you could easily see the relief in DaSilva’s face.

This writer is guessing Oleksuk didn’t miss a shift as his time missed was shortened by a media timeout and an extended time when the ice crew was on the ice scraping up the blood trail. Based on the timestamps of the tweet where he got hurt and the time he returned to the bench just seven minutes of actual time elapsed. No matter how you look at it, that’s impressive.

Speaking of DaSilva, the former “Crazed Rats” winger was brought back a couple weeks ago to add some scoring punch to the WorSharks lineup. After having just three assists in his first six games one might be tempted to say the experiment has failed, but just looking at how differently the team has played since he arrived it’s hard to call it anything but a success. Hopefully the sentiment is the same for the folks who decide if he stays of goes.

Nick Petrecki has had several real strong games in a row. Are we finally seeing the player Petrecki was projected to develop into? It sometimes takes years for physical, shutdown defensemen to mature and Petrecki has been close to looking ready before. This time it looks like it might be, well, his time.

The three stars of the game were
1. PRO – 24 Ryan Spooner (g,2a)
2. WOR – 21 Travis Oleksuk (g)
3. PRO – 13 Alexander Khokhlachev (SO game winner)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Bracken Kearns.

Even strength lines
Tarasov/Kearns/DaSilva
Schwartz/Viedensky/Hayes
Gogol/Oleksuk/Livingston
Bonneau/Brace/Reid

Davison/Tennyson
Comrie/Doherty
Petrecki/DeMelo

BOXSCORE

Providence 0 1 2 0 – 4
Worcester 0 1 2 0 – 3

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period-1, Worcester, Hayes 4 (Doherty, Brace), 10:05. 2, Providence, Spooner 5 (Youds, Moore), 18:30. Penalties-Hayes Wor (kneeing), 4:54; Trotman Pro (holding), 7:24; Youds Pro (delay of game), 10:20; Fraser Pro (roughing), 12:26; Doherty Wor (roughing), 12:26.

3rd Period-3, Worcester, Oleksuk 3 3:10. 4, Worcester, Kearns 5 (DaSilva, Tennyson), 6:27. 5, Providence, Fraser 16 (Spooner, Youds), 10:56 (PP). 6, Providence, Trotman 1 (Morrow, Spooner), 17:15. Penalties-Moore Pro (interference), 0:53; Tennyson Wor (delay of game), 9:26.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Providence 2 (Spooner G, Khokhlachev G, Cunningham NG, Camara NG, Johnson NG), Worcester 1 (Livingston G, Tarasov NG, Reid NG, DaSilva NG, Oleksuk NG).
Shots on Goal-Providence 9-6-10-3-1-29. Worcester 11-17-7-2-0-37.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 1 / 2; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Providence, Subban 4-5-0 (37 shots-34 saves). Worcester, Sateri 5-7-1 (28 shots-25 saves).
A-5,210
Referees-Trent Knorr (44), Ryan Murphy (5).
Linesmen-Chris Millea (33), Brian MacDonald (72).