SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks stun Providence with third period comeback, win 4-2

The Worcester Sharks knew they were getting a pretty good player when Chris Tierney was reassigned to the team from the NHL by San Jose, but few expected a three point night from the rookie as Tierney’s goal and two assists help propel the WorSharks into first place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division after their 4-2 win over the Providence Bruins Saturday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of a crowd of 5,310. Eriah Hayes and Melker Karlsson both had a goal and an assist in the contest, while Ryan Carpenter added a late insurance goal to give Worcester some breathing room.

Worcester Sharks forward Chris Tierney, pictured while with the San Jose Sharks,
had his first professional goal Saturday night in a 4-2 win over the Providence
Bruins. Tierney also had two assists in the contest.

For video highlights we once again get to use the WorSharks YouTube channel.

Scratches for Worcester were Jimmy Bonneau, Petter Emanuelsson (shoulder), Travis Oleksuk (shoulder), and Tyler Shattock. J.P. Anderson was the back-up goaltender. With Tierney being sent down from the big club San Jose also reassigned Chris Crane to the Missouri Mavericks (ECHL). Crane has just a single assist in 11 AHL games since leaving Ohio State (NCAA) in 2012-13. The word on Oleksuk’s injury is pretty good as he has started practicing with the team, so his return is likely now measured in days as opposed to weeks. The word on Emanuelsson’s injury is the exact opposite as the import from Sweden faces surgery and a likely long absence from the lineup.

To say Tierney looked good would be a massive understatement. The rookie center is in Worcester only because of the number of healthy forwards in San Jose is growing and they can’t keep everyone they have on the NHL roster. While Tierney is here he’ll get to work on his face-offs, which appear to be the only major flaw in his game. This writer didn’t keep track of the numbers, but to call them “abysmal” would likely be correct. The good thing is taking face-offs is a very teachable skill, so hopefully Tierney can pick up on it rapidly.

WorSharks fans got a scare when early in the third period when Daniil Tarasov blocked a booming slapshot from the point by a Providence defenseman with his left hand. Tarasov quickly dropped his stick and shed his glove as he headed to the bench as the play rushed up into the Bruins end. In the end Tarasov, discounting the power play Worcester had to kill, didn’t miss a shift.

Saturday was another of those “advantage” games the WorSharks have in the schedule as Providence played Friday night against Portland. The third period was where that advantage was evident as while Worcester outplayed the PBruins for most the game the WorSharks speed visibly wore down Providence to the point where the speedier Worcester forwards were able to get to loose pucks to develop scoring chances. In four “advantage” games the WorSharks are 3-1-0. Worcester will have its first “disadvantage” game in a couple weeks in Hershey.

You don’t often see mistakes on the opening faceoff a period by the officials, but comically it happened to begin both the second and third period. In the second period with the teams lined up apparently no one checked the clock as before it wound down to the horn to end the first intermission referee Evgeny Romasko dropped the puck. Worcester “won” the faceoff that was quickly called back and the clock set to 20:00. To begin the third period somehow the puck slipped out of the hand of referee Mark Lemelin before anyone was ready. Worcester “won” that draw too–only because the PBruins center was hardly even bent over–but order was quickly restored and this time Providence won the official opening faceoff.

Worcester’s next game is Veterans Day as they head to Springfield for a 3pm EST start. We won’t be live tweeting the game but should have our usual post-game coverage soon after. The game will be aired live on AHLlive.com, and will be on tape delay on WTAG at 7pm.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 50 Chris Tierney (g,a)
2. WOR – 7 Eriah Hayes (g,a)
3. WOR – 11 Bryan Lerg (2a)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Melker Karlsson.

Even strength lines
Langlois/Hamilton/Tarasov
Haley/Karlsson/Carpenter
Lerg/Tierney/Hayes
Trupp/Schwartz/(everyone)

Tennyson/Taormina
Fedun/DeMelo
Abeltshauser/Doherty
(Young mixed in throughout the pairings)

BOX SCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Karlsson 3 (Lerg, Tierney), 5:50 (PP). 2, Providence, Kane 1 (Casto, MacKenzie), 14:50. Penalties-Carpenter Wor (hooking), 1:24; Knight Pro (slashing), 1:51; Florek Pro (kneeing), 3:57; Knight Pro (boarding), 8:20; Cross Pro (roughing, roughing), 16:20; Hayes Wor (roughing), 16:20.

2nd Period-3, Providence, Khokhlachev 5 (Eminger), 19:28 (PP). Penalties-Ferlin Pro (hooking), 12:57; Doherty Wor (hooking), 19:23.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Tierney 1 (Hayes, Taormina), 7:09. 5, Worcester, Hayes 2 (Tierney, Lerg), 10:19. 6, Worcester, Carpenter 4 (Karlsson, Tennyson), 17:21. Penalties-Trupp Wor (hooking), 2:39; Randell Pro (roughing), 16:05; Abeltshauser Wor (roughing), 16:05; Taormina Wor (tripping), 18:43.

Shots on Goal-Providence 10-6-9-25. Worcester 14-16-11-41.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 1 / 4; Worcester 1 / 5.
Goalies-Providence, Subban 3-2-0 (41 shots-37 saves). Worcester, Grosenick 7-2-0 (25 shots-23 saves).
A-5,310
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41), Evgeny Romasko (6).
Linesmen-Alex Stagnone (7), Todd Whittemore (70).

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