SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks Avoid Epic Collapse In 6-4 Victory Over Portland

#14 JONATHAN CHEECHOO, #28 JAY LEACH LINE UP FOR A FACEOFF

WORCESTER SHARKS CENTER #11 CORY QUIRK

W-SHARKS DEFENSEMAN #6 NICK SHAUS CHALLENGES PUCK CARRIER

The Worcester Sharks did again Sunday afternoon what they have done far too often this season–collapse in the third period. Luckily for the WorSharks the collapse happened with a five goal lead as Worcester turned what looked to be a laugher into a 6-4 nail biting victory over the Portland Pirates at the DCU Center in front of 3,117 fans.

The WorSharks top three lines would all connect for goals in the opening 20 minutes, beginning with the Crazed Rats. Usually it’s the Rats that start the game for head coach Roy Sommer, but Sunday it was the first line for Worcester. After controlling the puck for a while in the Pirates zone Portland cleared the puck as the Rats jumped on the ice. Worcester quickly turned the play back to the Pirates end as Dan DaSilva, Andrew Desjardins, and Kevin Henderson played tic-tac-toe through the slot with Henderson ending up with an open shot on Portland netminder David Leggio. Henderson’s blast hit the netminder but still had enough on it to get to the back of the net for a 1-0 lead just 1:08 into the contest.

T.J. Trevelyan would make it 2-0 for the WorSharks when he picked up a loose puck and wheeled the Pirates net, beating Leggio to the far post as he banged the puck home. Matt Irwin and Steven Zalewski had the assists. Cam MacIntyre, playing in his first pro game after sitting out the end of last season and the first 23 games of this season with various injuries, would make it 3-0 at 17:27 with an almost carbon copy of Trevelyan’s goal. After Leggio went behind his net to play the puck the WorSharks charged the net as Leggio got caught behind his cage. MacIntyre grabbed the loose puck and wheeled to the front, flipping a backhander over a diving Leggio to light the lamp. The assists went to Tommy Wingles and Brandon Mashinter. The goal would end Leggio’s night as the Pirates called on Jhonas Enroth to stop the bleeding.

Sean Sullivan would make it 4-0 with a three zone breakaway after a Pirates turnover just as they entered the WorSharks zone. Sullivan scooped up the loose puck and broke in all alone on Enroth with the Pirates defenders giving chase. As he got to Enroth Sullivan attempted to slow his pace to shoot the puck, but lost control and never got a shot off. Luckily for Sullivan the momentum of the puck kept it going toward the net as Enroth scrambled to close the five hole, and the puck trickled into the net with Enroth on top of it. Linesman Brian MacDonald was right on top of the play and immediately signaled the goal good just before the red light went on at 8:30 of the second period.

Portland would get their first goal at 16:38 when Derek Whitmore gathered the rebound of Nick Crawford’s shot and banged home the rebound, but the WorSharks would answer just 13 seconds later when Worcester controlled the ensuing face off and dumped the puck into the Pirates zone, with Jonathan Cheechoo picking up a loose puck and wheeling the net. Cheechoo found Nick Schaus all alone in the high slot, and the rookie defenseman held the puck as a defender dove across his shot path trying for the block. Once the path was clear again Schaus slapped it on net and past the screened Enroth to get Worcester’s four goal lead back. Zalewski had the second assist.

Worcester would get their sixth goal 13 seconds into the third period after Enroth inexplicably played a puck that would have been icing, and his clearing attempt was blocked by Cheechoo. Trevelyan picked up the loose puck and fired a hard pass from the goal line to the right of Enroth to Zalewski standing just outside the crease. Zalewski tipped the pass into the high corner form his first of the season as the fans in attendance began to celebrate their upcoming victory. But unfortunately for the fans, it looked like the players started celebrating too.

Portland would make it 6-2 on a delayed penalty call when Mark Mancari banged home a loose puck at 7:33, and the Pirates would make it a three goal game when they grabbed a shorthanded goal by Nick Crawford after the WorSharks committed the sin of icing the puck while on the power play. With visions of the IceCats six goal comeback against the Manchester Monarchs years ago suddenly fresh in the minds of Worcester fans the Pirates would make it 6-4 at 14:01 when Corey Tropp banged home a rebound into an empty net. But luckily that was as close as the Pirates would get despite some tense moments as Portland pulled Enroth for an extra attacker with Desjardins in the penalty box. In a head scratching move Pirates head coach Kevin Dineen called his timeout with 1.5 seconds remaining, and the crowd let the coach know their displeasure of the move. The two teams meet again Tuesday evening in Portland.

A photo gallery of the game will be posted soon.

GAME NOTES
Before the game, Mike Moore was assigned to Worcester and started the game. The defenseman took several jarring hits in the opening stanza and was not present on the bench at the second period and did not return. Kevin Henderson took a Mark Mancari huge slash to the left wrist/hand area early in the first period, and briefly went to the locker room. He didn’t miss a shift, and on his return to the ice mixed it up with Mancari as he was leaving the ice. No penalties were called as play continued, and Henderson appears to not have suffered a serious injury. The injury list is down to just two, with Frazer McLaren and Tony Lucia still out. Joe Loprieno was a healthy scratch, and Carter Hutton was the backup netminder.

Three WorSharks are on two game point streaks: Jonathan Cheechoo (g,3a), Steven Zalewski (g,3a), and T.J. Trevelyan (2g,3a).

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 15 Steven Zalewski (g,2a)
2. WOR – 41 Cameron MacIntyre (g)
3. WOR – 6 Nick Schaus (gwg)

Zalewski was also the AHL’s number three star of the night.

For the third game in a row, the Sharkspage player of the game is T.J. Trevelyan.

Even Strength Lines
Trevelyan/Zalewski/Cheechoo
Mashinter/Wingles/MacIntyre
Henderson/Desjardins/DaSilva
Pitton/Quirk/Marcou

Moore/Schaus
Petrecki/Sullivan
Irwin/Leach

Penalty Kill Lines
Desjardins(Quirk)/Henderson
Wingles/Quirk(Trevelyan)

Leach/Sullivan(Irwin)
Schaus/Petrecki

Power Play lines
Marcou/Cheechoo/Trevelyan
Mashinter/Wingles/MacIntyre

Irwin/Sullivan
Schaus/Petrecki

BOXSCORE
Portland 0 1 3 – 4
Worcester 3 2 1 – 6

1st Period-1, Worcester, Henderson 3 (Desjardins, DaSilva), 1:08. 2, Worcester, Trevelyan 4 (Irwin, Zalewski), 12:24. 3, Worcester, MacIntyre 1 (Wingels, Mashinter), 17:27. Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period-4, Worcester, Sullivan 7   8:30. 5, Portland, Whitmore 7 (Crawford, Roloff), 16:38. 6, Worcester, Schaus 1 (Cheechoo, Zalewski), 16:51. Penalties-Quirk Wor (hooking), 3:06.

3rd Period-7, Worcester, Zalewski 1 (Trevelyan, Cheechoo), 0:13. 8, Portland, Mancari 12 (Schiestel), 7:33. 9, Portland, Crawford 3 (Byron, Legault), 11:43 (SH). 10, Portland, Tropp 3 (Gragnani, Conboy), 14:01. Penalties-Marcou Wor (hooking), 3:20; Gongalsky Por (tripping), 10:36; Crawford Por (hooking), 14:33; Desjardins Wor (tripping), 17:02.

Shots on Goal-Portland 8-12-10-30. Worcester 14-6-6-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0/3; Worcester 0/2.
Goalies-Portland, Leggio 8-2-0 (14 shots-11 saves); Enroth 6-5-1 (12 shots-9 saves). Worcester, Stalock 11-8-2 (30 shots-26 saves).
A-3,117
Referee-Terry Koharski (10). Linesmen-Chris Millea (33), Brian MacDonald (72).

A photo gallery from the game is available here.