WORCESTER, MA – The Worcester Railers HC (6-15-1-0, 13 points) returned home to the DCU Center for four straight games but fell 4-2 to the Maine Mariners (12-9-0-1, 25 points) on Friday evening in front of 2,385 fans at the DCU Center.
Kyle Thomas and Barry Almeida scored goals for Worcester while Evan Buitenhuis made 22 saves in net. Michael McNicholas (2-0-2) scored a penalty shot goal in the second period while Connor Lacouvee stood tall in net making 27 saves in net for his sixth win of the season.
Maine would get on the board in the first period at 10:42 when Greg Chase found McNicholas (3rd goal of season) back door sneaking one past Buitenhuis to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. The lead would not last for long when Thomas (6th goal) collected the puck in the high slot and snapped one by the blocker of Lacouvee to tie things at 1-1 at 11:01. After a wraparound effort from Jake Elmer denied from Buitenhuis, Alex Kile (5th goal) was able to bang home a rebound to give the Mariners their second lead of the night at 13:19. Maine took a 2-1 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes of play and outshot the Railers 12-8.
The only goal in the second period would come from McNicholas (4th goal) on a short-handed penalty shot where he zipped one over the glove of Buitenhuis at 11:58 giving Maine a 3-1 lead. Worcester outshot Maine 10-7 in the frame but the Mariners held the slight edge 19-18 through 40 minutes of play and a 3-1 lead.
After a scrum in front of the Maine net and a review on the play it was ruled that Almeida (5th goal) had poked one past Lacouvee at 7:43 of the third period to cut the deficit to 3-2. Maine would answer on the power-play for the first time in six games as Chase (4th goal) walked down from the right point and ripped one bar down past the shoulder of Buitenhuis at 15:26 to take a 4-2 lead. Despite multiple good chances from Worcester with Buitenhuis pulled they could not get one past Lacouvee as Maine took home a 4-2 victory.
The Railers will be back in action at the DCU Center Saturday, December 14th versus the Maine Mariners on DC Comics Night featuring Batman themed jerseys as well as the annual Teddy Bear Toss at 7 p.m.
Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star: Barry Almeida (goal); 2nd star: Connor Lacouvee (27 saves, win); 1st star Michael McNicholas (2 goals)… Final shots were 30-26 for Maine… Connor Lacouvee (6-5-1) had 27 saves on 29 shots for Maine… Evan Buitenhuis (3-8-0) made 22 saves on 26 shots for Worcester while Ian Milosz served as the backup… Worcester went 0-for-3 on the power play while Maine 1-for-4… Cody Payne, Ross Olsson, Ivan Chukarov, Anthony Florentino, 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… Barry Almeida scored in his return after missing the last seven games with an injury and led all skaters with five shots… Evan Buitenhuis made his sixth straight start … Kyle Thomas has goals in back to back games and extended his point streak to three games… Worcester is now 5-5-4-3 all-time vs. the Mariners and 4-2-2-1 at the DCU Center.
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