WORCESTER, MA – Matt Lane broke a 2-2 tie early in the third period as the Worcester Railers HC (29-25-4-3, 65 points) defeated the visiting Fort Wayne Komets (42-17-3-1, 88 points) by the score of 3-2 in front of 5,031 fans at the DCU Center on Saturday evening.
Matt Lane scored twice and Nick Saracino also found the back of the net for Worcester while Mitch Gillam made 24 saves as the Railers are now five points behind the Nailers for the final playoff spot in the North Division – the Railers have three games in hand with 11 games left. Mike Cornell added two assists while Yanick Turcotte picked up his 18th fighting major for the Railers third straight home win.
Each team scored in a high tempo first period of play as the Railers led 10-9 in shots through 20 minutes. Dylan Szdlowski (28th goal) snapped a wicked shot from the right circle past the glove of Gillam at 7:44. Saracino (10th) tied the score at 1-1 with a rush down the left wing with a snap shot from 30 feet that broke off the glove on goaltender Garrett Bartus and into the net at 17:41.
Worcester went ahead 2-1 at 1:40 of the second period as Lane (11th) fired a shot on the power play from on top of the left circle with Woody Hudson providing a screen on top of the crease. Turcotte (118th fighting major) dropped Daniel Maggio at 9:47 with an entertaining scrap as the physical play picked up in the middle frame. Fort Wayne tied the score at 2-2 at Marcus Basara (5th) deflected a 50-foot shot from Chris Leonard at 14:10. Each team had 18 shots through 40 minutes of play with the score tied 2-2 through two periods of play.
Lane (12th) struck again just 30 seconds into the third period for the eventual game winner as he took a centering feed on the rush from Saracino and ripped it top shelf from ten feet to give Worcester a 3-2 lead. Gillam made eight more saves in the third period, including a couple from in tight in the final five minutes as the Railers held on for the 3-2 home victory.
The Railers 3-in-3 home weekend concludes on KIDS GIVEAWAY Sunday vs. Utah at 3 p.m. with the first 1,000 kids receiving Railers HC thunder sticks.
Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star: Mike Cornell (WOR); 2nd star: Nick Saracino (WOR); 1st star: Matt Lane (WOR)… Final shots were 26-23 in favor of Fort Wayne… Garrett Bartus (16-5-1) made 20 saves on 23 shots for Fort Wayne. Cam Lanigan was the backup for Fort Wayne… Mitch Gillam (16-13-1) made 24 saves on 26 shots in his 12th start in the last 13 games for Worcester… Will King was the backup goaltender for the Railers… Worcester went 1-for-4 on the power play while Fort Wayne went 0-for-2… Josh Monk (injury), Justin Agosta (suspension), Connor Doherty, Tommy Kelley, Jake Randolph did not dress for Worcester… Ben Masella returned to the lineup after missing the last five games due to injury… Kellen Jones, Eamon McAdam, and Kyle Schempp are currently on recall with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Tommy Panico was recalled by the Iowa Wild before the game… The Railers are now 11-2-1 in their last 14 games at the DCU Center…Kyle McKenzie and Ben Masella also added assists for Worcester…The Railers are now 7-0-0-0 when wearing specialty jerseys this season – the Railers wore St. Patrick’s Day jerseys to benefit the Be Like Brit organization presented by Country Bank.
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