SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks use record setting goal by Matt Taormina to defeat Binghamton 3-2 in OT

The Worcester Sharks jumped out to two single goal leads on tallies by Ryan Carpenter and Michael Haley but twice Binghamton Senators forward Ryan Dzingel turned WorSharks turnovers into goals to send the two teams into overtime, where Worcester defenseman Matt Taormina converted in the new three on three portion of the extra stanza to give the WorSharks a 3-2 win in their 2014-2015 season debut. Eriah Hayes and Taylor Fedun both had two assist for Worcester while Troy Grosenick turned aside 41 of 43 Senators shots.

Worcester Sharks defenseman Matt Taormina (#20) with the overtime game winner
to give the WorSharks a 3-2 victory. At 6:34 of OT it is currently the latest
regulation OT goal scored in American Hockey League history.
Photo credit: Video capture for Sharkspage

For video highlights we usually point at AHLlive, but there doesn’t seem to be any at all from last night there. Hopefully that’s not something new. So for highlights we’ll link to SendToNews.com. They are embeddable but because they autoplay we’ll just link to them. It’s broken into three videos, for the other two just look for “additional clips” on that page. WorSharks vs Senators video highlights.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Chris Crane, Derek DeBlois, Melker Karlsson (upper body injury, didn’t make the trip to Binghamton), and Gus Young. J.P. Anderson was the back-up netminder. Before Worcester’s season even started there was a visit from the Worcester Shuttle as Eriah Hayes cleared waivers and was sent down by San Jose. Hayes took the red eye into Syracuse, New York but the cross country trip didn’t seem to bother him as Hayes assisted on both WorSharks goals in regulation.

Dylan Demelo, Travis Oleksuk, and Taylor Fedun all wore the “A” on their jerseys as no captain has been named as of yet. Apparently the plan is to have three alternate captains on the road and three different alternate captains at home. There’s been no press release from the WorSharks about the situation so we’ll just have to wait and see who will be wearing “A”s next Saturday at home against Providence. Worcester has named a captain every season except 2006-2007, the WorSharks first in the city.

The WorSharks set a franchise record for most shots in a season opener with their 48 last night. The previous record was 43, set in the opener of the 2007-08 season in a 6-4 loss to the Lowell Devils. Oddly enough Worcester just had a single shot in overtime, Taormina game winner. The 43 shots they surrendered to Binghamton is also a record for shots against in a season opener.

For a franchise that has a hard time scoring Carpenter’s goal at 8:15 of the first is just the fifth fastest to open a season for the WorSharks. The fastest goal to start a season was in 2009-10 in Worcester’s 3-2 win over Adirondack. Andrew Desjardins scored at 3:08 of the opening period, assisted by “Crazed Rats” linemate Dan DaSilva and eventual Eddie Shore Award (AHL best defenseman) winner Danny Groulx.

A scoring oddity may have bitten the official scorer in Binghamton. The overtime game winner is listed as giving Evan Trupp and Fedun assists on Taormina’s game winner and all three players are listed as having a “plus” on the play. The problem is in the picture shown above, taken straight from the game highlight video, the WorSharks player shown to the left of Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond is Bryan Lerg (#11). While the assist may belong to Fedun the plus belongs to Lerg. Worcester Sharks play by play and PR man Eric Lindquist is very good at straightening out those things, so we’ll pay attention to see what scoring changes are made by the AHL.

Turnovers were a big issue for the WorSharks last season and it appears that issue hasn’t been fixed. Both of Ryan Dzingel’s goals were a direct result of a Worcester defensive turnover. It could have been worse as Troy Grosenick bailed out Taormina when his turnover sent the Senators Max McCormick in all alone shorthanded late in the middle period. Grosenick did it again in the three on three portion of overtime when a Tennyson turnover sent Matt Puempel in all alone in a long breakaway.

A quick search of AHL rosters on opening night shows 15 former WorSharks players still playing in the AHL. They are Sena Acolatse (ADK), Steve Bernier (ALB), John McCarthy (CHI), Nathan Longpre (CHI), Brennan Evans (GR), Tim Kennedy (HER), Mike Moore (HER), Curt Gogol (IWA), Nick Petrecki (RCH), Denny Urban (SPR), Yanni Gourde (SYR), Kevin Henderson (TEX), William Wrenn (TEX), Frazer McLaren (TOR), Bobby Farnham (WBS). We’ll run down the ECHL rosters once their regular season starts.

Even Strength Lines
Tarasov/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Haley/Carpenter/Hayes
Lerg/Trupp/Langlois
Bonneau/Schwartz/Emanuelsson

Taormina/Tennyson
Fedun/DeMelo
Abeltshauser/Doherty

BOXSCORE

Worcester 2 0 0 1 – 3
Binghamton 1 1 0 0 – 2

1st Period-1, Worcester, Carpenter 1 (Hayes, Fedun), 8:15. 2, Binghamton, Dzingel 1 (Thompson, McCormick), 14:34. 3, Worcester, Haley 1 (Doherty, Hayes), 18:06. Penalties-Doherty Wor (hooking), 4:24.

2nd Period-4, Binghamton, Dzingel 2 (Grant), 16:37. Penalties-Doherty Wor (hooking), 5:00; Johnson Bng (interference), 6:03; Grant Bng (holding), 11:33; Robinson Bng (hooking), 18:19.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Pageau Bng (cross-checking), 8:39; Tarasov Wor (holding), 9:03; Trupp Wor (holding), 12:23.

OT Period-5, Worcester, Taormina 1 (Trupp, Fedun), 6:34. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Worcester 19-15-13-1-48. Binghamton 12-9-16-6-43.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 4; Binghamton 0 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Grosenick 1-0-0 (43 shots-41 saves). Binghamton, Hammond 0-0-0 (48 shots-45 saves).
A-3,878
Referees-Darcy Burchell (42), Ryan Fraser (14).
Linesmen-John Everett (82), Francis Trempe (85).