Railers get taken down by Mariners in OT

WORCESTER, MA – The Worcester Railers HC (22-21-4-2, .520 points percentage) fell 4-3 in overtime to the Maine Mariners (23-21-4-2, .510 points percentage) in front of a crowd of 7,455 at the DCU Center on Worcester Red Sox Night.

Worcester received second period goals from Jacob Hayhurst (power play goal), Mike Cornell, and Liam Coughlin (power play goal) to possess a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes of play after a scoreless opening frame. Maine rattled off three unanswered goals in the third Pat Shea (1:40), Kelti Jeri-Leon (16:19), and Nick Jermain (16:47) to force overtime. Nick Master ended the game with just 19 seconds left in overtime to hand Maine the come from behind 4-3 victory.

Both goaltenders made huge stops in the opening period as Colten Ellis made countless highlight reel saves stopping all 13 shots he faced. Worcester was able to kill off two short-handed chances while Maine killed off one. Stefanos Lekkas made 7 saves as the two teams skated into the dressing room dead locked at 0-0 through the first period of play.

The Railers came out flying to open up the second period of play outshooting the Mariners 7-1 in the opening few minutes of play. Hayhurst (11th goal of season) would give Worcester a 1-0 lead just six seconds into the Railers second power-play of the game at 2:57 as Jordan Lavallee-Smotherman found Hayhurst in the high slot all alone snapping it past Lekkas to give Worcester a 1-0 lead. 2:26 later Coughlin from the near side of the goal line would find Cornell (2nd goal) sliding through the high slot and Cornell wasted no time snapping it past Leakkas for a Worcester 2-0 advantage. Former Railer defenseman Connor Doherty was assessed a four-minute double minor at 13:48 and just 57 seconds in Coughlin would capitalize on a rebound after an initial point shot from John Furgele for Worcester’s second power-play goal of the frame making the lead 3-0. Worcester would outshoot Maine 19-9 in the middle period and take a 3-0 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes of play.

1:40 into the third period there was a lot of discussion taking place. Pat Shea (9th goal) drove through the left circle and collided with Railers goaltender Ellis as the puck trickled behind the goal line. The initial call was no goal at ice level but after a lengthy review it would go down as a good goal cutting the deficit down to 3-1. After the final media timeout with 4:22 remaining in the third Maine would pull Lekkas and would strike at 16:19 as Jeri-Leon (9th goal) made it just 3-2 Worcester. 28 seconds later Jermain (5th goal) would tie it up at 3-3. Maine was able to force overtime with the score being 3-3 after regulation shots in favor of Maine 37-33.

It was back and forth action in the overtime session and Worcester was able to kill off a two-minute minor penalty with 3:25 to play. However, with just 19 seconds left in overtime Master (11th goal) would cap off the comeback win for Maine 4-3 by finding the back of the cage.

The Railers are back in action Sunday afternoon vs. Maine at the DCU Center at 3:05 p.m.

Notes: Three Stars: 3rd Star: Stefanos Lekkas (31 saves, 3 goals against, .912 save percentage); 2nd Star: Colten Ellis (39 saves, 4 goals against, .906 save percentage); 1st Star: Nick Master (1 goal, 1 assist, Game winning goal, +2 rating, 3 shots)… Final shots were 43-34 in favor of Maine… Stefanos Lekkas (14-11-2) made 31 saves on 34 shots for Maine… Colten Ellis (12-4-5) made 39 saves on 43 shots for Worcester, while Jimmy Poreda served as the backup… Worcester went 2-for-4 on the power play while Maine went 0-for-5… Bobby Butler (IR), Connor McCarthy (IR), Grant Jozefek (IR), Will Cullen (IR) Reece Newkirk (INJ), Chris Ordoobadi (DNP), Nick Albano (DNP) and Ross Olsson (DNP) did not dress for Worcester… The Railers are now 14-14-5-3 all-time vs. the Mariners and 11-3-3-1 at the DCU Center against Maine.

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