WORCESTER, MA – The Worcester Railers HC (20-19-4-2, 46 points) never led but pulled through with a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over the visiting Reading Royals (27-19-3-0, 57 points) in front of 1,923 fans at the DCU Center on a wintery Wednesday evening.
Chris Langkow scored at 4:01 of the overtime period for the game winner while Barry Almeida (1-1-2) and Justin Hamonic also scored for the Railers. Eamon McAdam made 28 saves in net including a big save just a few moments before Langkow buried the game winner. The game marked just the tenth time in ECHL history that a game ended without a single penalty called. With the win, the Railers have points in a season high six straight games (5-0-1) and are now 5-3-1-0 on their season long eleven game homestand.
Neither team found the back of the net in a slow moving uneventful opening period as Worcester was outshot 13-1. McAdam was the best player on the ice for the Railers making 13 first period saves while John Muse was able to snooze his way through the first 20 minutes.
Worcester outshot Reading 13-9 in the second period but it was the Royals that scored the only goal. Matt Willows (18th) extended his point streak to ten games and gave Reading a 1-0 lead at 10:23 from Matt Wilkins and Chris McCarthy for the only score. Muse made several great saves in the middle frame as the Railers trailed 1-0 through 40 minutes of play.
Almeida (13th) tied the score at 1-1 after a Nick Saracino shot went off the end wall and found Almeida on the other side of the net. James de Haas (5th) put Reading back up a goal at the 7:00 minute mark after a great cross ice feed on the rush by Wilkins. Worcester would tie the score again at 18:25 with an extra attacker on the ice as Hamonic’s (1st) drive from 50 feet broke off the pad of Muse and into the back of the net to tie the score at 2-2. Shots were 7-6 in favor of Worcester in the third period as the game headed to overtime tied at 2-2.
In overtime, the Railers controlled much of the play, but McAdam made a huge save with about two minutes remaining to keep the game going. Matty Gaudreau entered into the offensive zone and feathered an exquisite pass to Langkow (11th) who then deflected the puck past Muse for the game winner at 4:01 for the Railers first overtime home win.
Notes: Three Stars – 3rd star: Matt Willows (1 goal, 1 assist); 2nd star: Justin Hamonic (Game tying goal); 1st star: Chris Langkow (OTG, assist)… Final shots were 30-22 in favor of Reading… John Muse (17-5-2) made 19 saves on 22 shots for Reading… Eamon McAdam (12-9-6) made 28 saves on 30 shots for Worcester… Mitch Gillam was the backup goalie… Worcester went 0-for-0 on the power play while Reading went 0-for-1… Josh Monk (injury), Ashton Rome (injury), Tommy Kelley, Brian Bowen, and Anthony Calabrese did not dress for Worcester… Kellen Jones and Mike Cornell are currently on recall with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers… Worcester improved to 11-10-2-0 on home ice… Jeff Kubiak has six points (3-3-6) in his last four games… Nick Saracino now has ten points in his last nine games (3-7-10)… The Railers were held to just one shot in the first period – just the eighth time that has happened this season in any period this year in the ECHL… It was the second time in two days that an ECHL game had no penalties called and just the tenth time in ECHL history… Matty Gaudreau added an assist and finished plus-2… The goal scored by Hamonic was just his second in 135 ECHL games… The Railers return to the ice at home on Friday, February 9th when they host the South Carolina Stingrays at 7:05 p.m. on a 2-3-4 Friday night.
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