SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks end record scoreless streak, still lose 3-2 to Springfield in OT

The Worcester Sharks entered Friday night’s contest at the DCU Center against the Springfield Falcons on a 150:29 goalless streak after being blanked in two games during their brief Pennsylvania trip last weekend, and after Evan Trupp’s goal early in the second period ended the streak at a franchise record 172:56 Melker Karlsson’s goal on the opening shift of the third period gave the WorSharks a lead for the first time in 340:26 minutes of play. It unfortunately took just 35 seconds for Worcester lose that lead, but the WorSharks earned a point by getting the game into overtime before losing 3-2.

Worcester Sharks center Melker Karlsson's third period goal, set up on a nice feed by
Chris Tierney, gave the WorSharks their first lead in over five full games. Worcester
was unable to hold that lead and settled for a point in a 3-2 OT loss to Springfield.
File photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlight we use the Worcester Sharks YouTube channel. Watch for Springfield’s Sean Collins’ “accidental” pick of Worcester defenseman Taylor Doherty that sets up the overtime game winner for the Falcons.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Jimmy Bonneau, Petter Emanuelsson (shoulder), Nick Jones, and Rylan Schwartz. J.P. Anderson was the back-up goaltender. Jones was recalled from the Indy Fuel (ECHL) earlier this week when Matt Tennyson was recalled to San Jose. Schwartz was a scratch for newcomer Adam Burish, who cleared waivers before Thanksgiving and was assigned to Worcester. Goaltender Troy Grosenick, at least as of yesterday, remains in San Jose after being injured in practice while replacing an also injured Alex Stalock. Injured players can’t be sent to the minor leagues, so now that Stalock is healthy one would guess that once Grosenick is ready to play he’s headed back to Worcester.

One of the reasons the WorSharks have had issues putting the puck in the net is, well, their goal scorers aren’t putting the puck into the net. Last season’s leading scorer Freddie Hamilton hasn’t had a goal in almost a month, Daniil Tarasov hasn’t had one in almost as long, and Travis Oleksuk still doesn’t have one. The only other returnee from last season with double digit goals is Eriah Hayes, and he hasn’t scored in three weeks. One has to wonder if San Jose had brought back Dan DaSilva, who is 9-9-18 with the Augsburg Panthers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (Germany), would they be in the midst of this goal drought. Apropos of nothing, DaSilva is joined on the Panther’s roster by former WorSharks forwards T.J. Trevelyan and Mike Connolly, and former Worcester IceCats forwards Ivan Ciernik and Arvids Rekis.

A few seasons ago I moved from my traditional perch from high up in the DCU Center down to seats in the lower section on the redline exactly halfway between the press box and the ice surface. In those few seasons only three times has a puck gone out of play anywhere close to me, and all three of those occasions happened in a five game span a couple seasons ago. Last night was the closest I’ve ever seen anyone in my area almost get seriously injured by a puck when a Springfield clearing attempt was fired off in our direction. It hit the top of the glass, just a couple inches away from clearing it, and at the speed it was going there’s no way anyone could have gotten out of the way. Later on in the period longtime Sharkspage minion Stan Hosmer was struck in the head with a puck, but it had been flipped toward the glass and after being deflected had almost no momentum, so the puck was luckily undamaged.

Not a great night for linesmen Scott and Todd Whittemore, who are brothers and frequent on-ice officials at the DCU Center. Both are usually pretty good, but each made several noticeable errors on icing and offside calls, and both squads got away with too many men penalties despite it clearly happening in front of the linesmen. Luckily neither team was scored upon because of the mistakes. It’s only mentionable because while the refereeing in the AHL is wildly inconsistent the linesmen in the league do a great job night in and night out. Here’s to hoping the Whittemore brothers were suffering with a bit of turkey hangover.

For anyone that missed it, the pre-Thanksgiving snowstorm here in the New England region caused last Wednesday’s game at the Portland Pirates to be postponed until Tuesday, December 2nd.

The three stars of the game were
1. SPR – 20 Nathan Oystrick (OT gwg)
2. WOR – 15 Melker Karlsson (g)
3. SPR – 10 Marko Dano (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Evan Trupp.

Even strength lines
Tarasov/Tierney/Karlsson
Lerg/Burish/Hamilton
Trupp/Oleksuk/Carpenter
Haley/Langlois/Hayes

Taormina/Doherty
Abeltshauser/DeMelo
Young/Fedun

BOX SCORE

Springfield 1 0 1 1 – 3
Worcester 0 1 1 0 – 2

1st Period-1, Springfield, Gagnon 1 (Cowick), 3:17. Penalties-Gagnon Spr (fighting), 11:37; Haley Wor (fighting), 11:37.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Trupp 4 (Young, Fedun), 2:27. Penalties-Collins Spr (high-sticking), 0:23; Sifers Spr (interference), 4:53; Dano Spr (interference), 11:53; Craig Spr (hooking), 17:53.

3rd Period-3, Worcester, Karlsson 4 (Tierney, Taormina), 0:26. 4, Springfield, Dano 2 (Madaisky), 1:01. Penalties-Forsberg Spr (delay of game), 3:15.

OT Period-5, Springfield, Oystrick 1 (Tynan, Collins), 2:42. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Springfield 5-7-12-1-25. Worcester 11-13-8-3-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 0 / 0; Worcester 0 / 5.
Goalies-Springfield, Forsberg 8-2-0 (35 shots-33 saves). Worcester, Dell 0-1-0 (25 shots-22 saves).
A-2,639
Referees-Kendrick Nicholson (44).
Linesmen-Scott Whittemore (96), Todd Whittemore (70).

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