WORCESTER, MA – The Worcester Railers HC (8-15-1-0, 17 points) captured their second straight win on home ice 4-1 over the Reading Royals (15-9-4-0, 34 points) on Sunday afternoon in front of 2,174 fans at the DCU Center on a Kids’s Giveaway Sunday.
Nic Pierog (2 goals) scored his third short-handed goal of the season, the Railers sixth of the year, while Drew Callin scored his first goal of the season and Ian Milsoz made 31 saves in net in his first professional game collecting the win and first star. Marly Quince scored the only goal for Reading while Kirill Ustimenko made 25 saves in the loss.
Jordan Samuels-Thomas short-handed started up the left-wing wall and after cutting around a defenseman, Ustimenko made the initial save but there was Pierog (7th goal of season) to slam home the rebound to give Worcester a 1-0 lead with just 3:52 to play in the first period. Worcester was a perfect two for two on the penalty kill in the first 20 minutes and took a 1-0 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes. Milosz made stopped all nine shots he face as Worcester outshot Reading in the first frame.
After winning an offensive zone faceoff, Jack Stander blasted a shot on net from the left point and Callin (1st goal) was on the door step to bang home the rebound to increase the Railers lead to 2-0 at 13:54 of the middle period. Milosz made 12 saves in the period to remain perfect in the contest stopping all 21 shots he faced through 40 minutes of play. Shots were in favor of Worcester 24-21 through two periods.
Quince (2nd goal) made things interesting when he roofed one over the right shoulder of Milosz at 3:14 of the third period to cut the deficit down to 2-1. The Royals pulled goaltender Ustimenko with 2:50 remaining in regulation and Pierog (8th goal) at 17:59 and Dante Salituro (5th goal) at 18:49 would add empty net scores to give the Railers a 4-1 win on home ice.
The Railers will be back in action at the DCU Center Wednesday, December 18th against the Allen Americans at 7 p.m. for a 2-3-4 weekday game.
Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star: Nic Pierog (2 goals, +2, 7 shots); 2nd star: Jack Stander (1 assist, +2); 1st star: Ian Milosz (31 saves, Win)… Final shots were 32-29 for Reading… Kirill Ustimenko (9-3-4) 25 saves on 27 shots for Reading… Ian Milosz (1-0-0) made 31 saves on 32 shots for Worcester while Evan Buitenhuis served as the backup… Worcester went 0-for-2 on the power play while Reading was 0-for-6… Ivan Chukarov, Anthony Florentino, JD Dudek (injury), Barry Almeida (injury), and Tanner Pond (injury) did not dress for Worcester… Mike Cornell, Jakub Skarek, and Linus Soderstrom are currently on recall with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers… Ian Milosz made his pro debut in net for Worcester making 31 saves and earning first star of the game… Drew Callin scored his first goal of the season… Nic Pierog scored his third short-handed goal of the season and is tied for the league lead and lead all skaters with seven shots… Jordan Samuels-Thomas leads the league with five short-handed points… Ryan MacKinnon added two assists for his second multi-point game of the season… Cody Payne also added two assists… The Railers recorded back to back wins for the second time this season… Worcester is now 12-9-0-1 all-time vs. the Royals and 8-2-1-0 at the DCU Center.
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