WORCESTER, MA – The Worcester Railers HC (10-10-3-0, 23 points) extended their season long point streak to five games with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Brampton Beast(10-10-2-1, 23 points) in front of 3,013 fans at the DCU Center on Friday evening.
Nick Sorkin, Matty Gaudreau, and Barry Almeida all scored for Worcester while Evan Buitenhuis, making his second straight start, was strong making 32 saves in net for his fifth win of the season. Alex Vanier added three assists and was a plus-3 as the Railers extended their point streak to a season high five games (4-0-1-0) with the win.
It was a slow start to the first period with a lot of whistles and not a lot of flow but the Railers turned the pressure on in the final five minutes. Nick Sorkin (1st goal of the season) scored his first goal of the season on a rush after he sent a quick shot from the left slot past the blocker of goaltender Jake Paterson at 17:58 with Josh Holmstrom and Alex Vanier picking up assists to give Worcester a 1-0 advantage. Shots were 12-10 in favor of the Railers through 20 minutes of play.
Each team had nine shots on goal but neither team found the back of the net in the second period of play. Goaltender Buitenhuis had 19 saves through 40 minutes of play as the Railers held a 1-0 lead into the second intermission.
Gaudreau (5th of season) fired home a loose rebound with a great shot from the left circle to give Worcester a 2-0 lead at 10:45 of the third period as Sorkin picked up the primary assist. The Beast would get back within a goal at 14:20 as Erik Bradford (6th of season) snapped a wicked shot from 40 feet on the rush top shelf to cut the Railers lead to 2-1. Almeida (6th of season) would put the game away with a breakaway empty net tally at 18:57 after great work behind the Worcester cage by Mike Cornell and Vanier to give Worcester the 3-1 home victory.
Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star: Alex Vanier (0-3-3, +3) 2nd star: Matty Gaudreau (GWG) 1st star: Nick Sorkin (1-1-2) … Final shots were 33-33… Jake Paterson (3-6-0-1) made 30 saves on 32 shots for Brampton… Evan Buitenhuis (5-4-2-0) made 32 saves on 33 shots for Worcester while Ryan Hubbard served as the emergency backup… Worcester went 0-for-1 on the power play while Brampton went 0-for-3… Tommy Kelley (injury), Tyler Mueller (injury), Kyle McKenzie (injury), Ivan Kosorenkov, Malcolm Gould (injury), and Yanick Turcotte did not dress for Worcester… Jeff Kubiak and Mitch Gillam are currently on recall with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers… Tyler Barnes now has points in four straight games (3-4-7)… The Railers are in the middle of a stretch where they play six of seven on home ice… Worcester improved to 5-1-1-0 all-time against the Beast at the DCU Center… Boston Bruins forward Ryan Donato signed autographs before the game… The Railers moved back to .500 for the first time since Oct 27 when they were 3-3-0-0… Nick Sorkin fired a game high eight shots on goal… The Railers close out the weekend with a 3 p.m. start on Sunday in Portland, ME versus the Maine Mariners.
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.