SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks bedeviled by Albany in 3-2 loss

The Worcester Sharks continued their first period woes by not scoring in the opening stanza in their seventh consecutive game, and despite coming back from a two goal deficit in the middle period the WorSharks didn’t have enough to get fully over the hump and dropped a 3-2 contest to the Albany Devils at the Times Union Center on Friday night. Defensemen Taylor Fedun and Karl Stollery had the goals for Worcester, while Troy Grosenick was the hard-luck loser despite making 31 saves, many of the spectacular variety.

Worcester Sharks defenseman Karl Stollery scored his first goal for the WorSharks
since being traded for Freddie Hamilton at the NHL trade deadline. Stollery has
three points in five games for Worcester. File photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we get to use the Albany Devil’s YouTube channel.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Konrad Abeltshauser, Jimmy Bonneau, Petter Emanuelsson (shoulder), Jeremy Langlois (foot), Daniil Tarasov (potential recall), Matt Tennyson (lower body), and Evan Trupp (undisclosed injury). Aaron Dell was the back-up goaltender. The word that Tarasov might be recalled to San Jose reached Worcester Sharks head coach Roy Sommer about a half-hour before the team bus departed to Albany, so as is usually the case Tarasov was left behind in Worcester. As of posting time his recall was not official.

Season after season the schedule released for the WorSharks by the AHL has had a few head-scratching entries, usually consisting of long bus trips between locations that had the games been in reverse order would have made for much easier trips. This season Worcester only had one mad dash, a home to Syracuse overnight trip that was made easier by an early start the previous day. This season it’s having basically an entire weekend off as the playoff rush begins. The WorSharks don’t take to the ice again until next Wednesday against Hershey while nearly everyone else in the AHL plays a three-in-three. The rest does come at a good time as the injury bug is starting to bite Worcester, and the extra couple days off will likely do wonders for the club.

Milestone alerts: John McCarthy is one goal short of the WorSharks franchise lead; Travis Oleksuk needs one point for 75 in his Worcester career, Matt Tennyson needs two for 60 and Dylan DeMelo two for 50.

The three stars of the game were
1. ALB – 23 Darcy Zajac (g,a)
2. ALB – 10 Rod Pelley (g,a)
3. WOR – 14 Taylor Fedun (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Bryan Lerg.

Even strength lines
Haley/McCarthy/Parkes
Lerg/Oleksuk/Coetzee
Schwartz/Carpenter/Hayes
Arseneau/Crane/DeBlois

Taormina/Doherty
Stollery/DeMelo
Young/Fedun

BOX SCORE

Worcester 0 2 0 – 2
Albany 2 0 1 – 3

1st Period-1, Albany, Thompson 25 (Sestito), 7:36. 2, Albany, Pelley 6 (D. Zajac, Burlon), 15:14. Penalties-Hayes Wor (goaltender interference), 5:10; Sestito Alb (tripping), 5:10; Thomson Alb (hooking), 8:19; Doherty Wor (holding), 13:08; Thomson Alb (interference), 15:32.

2nd Period-3, Worcester, Fedun 6 (Lerg, Taormina), 4:57. 4, Worcester, Stollery 6 (Carpenter, DeMelo), 10:20. Penalties-Kelly Alb (elbowing), 2:52; Doherty Wor (slashing), 8:25; Whitney Alb (tripping), 9:04; Arseneau Wor (boarding), 15:49; Oleksuk Wor (hooking), 19:23.

3rd Period-5, Albany, D. Zajac 7 (Pelley, McPherson), 5:46. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Worcester 8-11-10-29. Albany 14-12-8-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 4; Albany 0 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Grosenick 18-9-1 (34 shots-31 saves). Albany, Clemmensen 6-8-1 (29 shots-27 saves).
A-3,122
Referees-Tim Mayer (19), Cameron Voss (78).
Linesmen-Frank Murphy (29), Francis Trempe (85).