SHARKSPAGE

DaSilva DaMan in WorSharks 6-3 win over Portland

The Worcester Sharks got four point nights from both Dan DaSilva and Travis Oleksuk, including a hat trick for DaSilva, and three assists from Yanni Gourde to help lead the WorSharks to a 6-3 win over the Portland Pirates at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, Maine in front of 1,632 fans in a rare Tuesday night contest. The win extended Worcester’s point streak to six games (5-0-1-0), and jumped the WorSharks to tenth in the AHL’s Eastern Conference at the half-way mark of their season, just three points out of the final playoff spot.

Portland winger Brandon Yip (#32) tries to prevent Worcester Sharks forward Dan DaSilva (#22) from carrying the
puck into the slot during Tuesday's 6-3 win for the WorSharks. DaSilva had a hat trick and an assist in the game,
while Yip notched a goal and an assist in the losing effort for the Pirates.
Photo courtesy of the PORTLAND PIRATES

For highlights of the contest, we once again point at AHLlive.com

Scratches for Worcester were Adam Comrie, Troy Grosenick (knee), Matt Pelech (hand), and Brodie Reid (back). Thomas Heemskerk was the back-up goaltender. In the first period Daniil Tarasov was blasted in the open ice by Portland defenseman Connor Murphy. Tarasov did not return after being helped to the dressing room. This is about the fifth time in two weeks someone has taken a run at Tarasov. Is it out of place to ask where the “Goon Squad” is after these hits? Just prior to the WorSharks heading up to Lewiston, Maine Taylor Doherty was recalled to San Jose. It’s the first recall for the 6’7″ defenseman, and while it’s likely he won’t appear in a game for the big club the NHL experience will be nothing but a positive for the third year pro. Doherty takes the place of Matt Tennyson on the San Jose roster as Tennyson was loaned back to the WorSharks Sunday.

Comrie was the only healthy scratch, which was predictable when he took a silly double minor for a spearing attempt while Worcester was shorthanded on Saturday in Norfolk. With seven capable defensemen on the roster fighting for playing time giving head coach Roy Sommer a reason to sit you isn’t a good idea. Far too often this season Comrie has done just that.

The hat trick for DaSilva ties him with Mike Iggulden for the most all time for the WorSharks–at two. Hat tricks are not a common thing in the eight and a half season the franchise has been here, with only seven different players logging one for Worcester. Mathieu Darche, P.J. Fenton, Dennis McCauley, Daniil Tarasov, and Riley Armstrong each have one a piece. The WorSharks have never had a natural hat trick.

This writer expects a scoring change to be made on DaSilva’s hat trick goal. It currently reads “DaSilva, (7) (Tennyson, Oleksuk), 6:38”, but it should be Gourde’s fourth assist of the game in place of Oleksuk. The video is pretty clear that the assist belongs to Gourde. The WorSharks are pretty good at getting things like this corrected, so presumably they will get it changed. During the game there was one glowing error in the box score, as it listed DaSilva with three goals and just one shot. As soon as Sharkspage mentioned the error on twitter it was fixed.

And speaking of Gourde, how long until Worcester upgrades that PTO to a regular contract? One would expect it won’t be much longer.

Worcester finished the game with 47 shots in goal, but somehow didn’t have one for over nine minutes to start the second period. The WorSharks ended the first period with a 16-6 shots advantage, but Brandon Yip’s goal for Portland at 7:08 of the second period swung the shots lead over to Portland at 17-16. It’s easy to tell when Worcester’s first shot of the period took place, at 9:04, because that’s when Tennyson scored to tie the game 2-2.

Giving up goals in the first or last minutes of a period is a big “no-no” in hockey, and until recently was something that happened to the WorSharks far too often. The WorSharks finally got one of those in the plus column when Oleksuk tipped Tennyson’s blast past Portland netminder Louis Domingue with 3.7 seconds remaining in the second period. One could easily say that was the turning point of the game as from that point on as the Pirates had as many shots, three, as the WorSharks had goals.

The American Hockey League finally got around to suspending Max Friberg, the Norfolk Admirals winger who butt ended Tarasov in Friday night’s game. The penalty was called “boarding”, and had it been called what it actually was–Friberg driving his stick into the head area of Tarasov as Friberg crushed Tarasov into the boards–perhaps the AHL would have suspended him more than just the one game it did. One has to wonder why Friberg wasn’t suspended for Saturday night’s game against Worcester as the AHL did suspend players for Saturday games due to infraction committed the night before.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 22 Dan DaSilva (hat trick, assist)
2. WOR – 21 Travis Oleksuk (g,3a)
3. WOR – 37 Yanni Gourde (3a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Matt Tennyson.

Even strength lines
Scheidl/Hamilton/Gron
Gourde/Oleksuk/DaSilva
Tarasov/Viedensky/Livingston
Gogol/Schwartz/Bonneau
The lines jumbled a bit after Tarasov’s injury, including Scheidl and Gourde seeing shifts at center.

Acolatse/Abeltshauser
Davison/DeMelo
Petrecki/Tennyson

BOXSCORE

Worcester 1 2 3 – 6
Portland 1 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Worcester, DaSilva 5 (Oleksuk, Gourde), 11:17. 2, Portland, Lessio 13 (Gormley), 18:03. Penalties-Klesla Por (roughing), 2:06; Klesla Por (tripping), 5:15; Scheidl Wor (interference), 5:46; Klesla Por (delay of game), 13:10.

2nd Period-3, Portland, Yip 3 (Todd, Lessio), 7:08. 4, Worcester, Tennyson 3 (Oleksuk, DaSilva), 9:04. 5, Portland, Gormley 3 (Yip, Lessio), 14:13 (PP). 6, Worcester, Oleksuk 6 (Tennyson, Gourde), 19:56. Penalties-Acolatse Wor (roughing), 13:31; DeMelo Wor (holding), 13:31; Hextall Por (roughing), 13:31.

3rd Period-7, Worcester, DaSilva 6 (Acolatse, Gourde), 2:54 (PP). 8, Worcester, DaSilva 7 (Tennyson, Oleksuk), 6:38. 9, Worcester, Acolatse 3 (Livingston), 16:08. Penalties-Brisebois Por (interference), 1:48; Gron Wor (goaltender interference), 3:51; Brisebois Por (tripping), 7:25; Tennyson Wor (high-sticking), 12:58; Gogol Wor (roughing), 16:03; Brown Por (roughing), 16:03; Brisebois Por (roughing), 19:52.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 16-13-18-47. Portland 6-19-3-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 6; Portland 1 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 11-13-1 (28 shots-25 saves). Portland, Domingue 6-2-2 (47 shots-41 saves).
A-1,632
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41), Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Jeremy Lovett (78), Joe Ross (92).