WORCESTER, MA – The Worcester Railers HC (2-0-0-0, 4 points) prevailed with a come from behind 3-2 shootout victory over the Maine Mariners(0-1-0-1, 1 point) in front of 2,722 fans at the DCU Center on Friday evening.
Worcester got a goal from Kyle Thomas at 17:51 of the third period to tie the game at 2-2 to send the contest to overtime. Nic Pierog would score the lone goal of the three round shootout for the Railers while 19-year-old Jakub Skarek made 24 saves on 26 shots in net for his second career win. Connor LaCouvee made 32 saves in net for the Mariners and Dillan Fox scored both goals for Maine as Worcester opened the season a perfect 2-0.
The Maine Mariners would come out of the gates hot as Fox (1st goal of season) would score from behind the net just 56 seconds in giving the opposing team a 1-0 lead. Then at 12:46 Fox (2nd goal) would net his second goal of the game firing a shot from the top of the right circle beating Railers netminder Skarek blocker side increasing the Maine lead 2-0. Tanner Pond (1st goal) would strike at 12:53 his first as a Railer as he was all alone in the high slot and received a feed from Cody Payne decreasing the deficit to 2-1. The Railers headed into the dressing room down 2-1 after the opening frame with shots tied at 8-8.
The second period saw no goals scored as the Railers were able to generate some scoring chances on the penalty kill in route to killing off both Maine power plays. Skarek was perfect in next stopping all nine shots he faced but the Railers still trailed 2-1 through 40 minutes of play.
Back and forth action in the third period there was no scoring until just 2:09 left in the game when Thomas (2nd goal) jammed home the puck at the side of the net with netminder Skarek on the bench for the extra attacker.
A seven-minute overtime period was not enough to provide a winner as the contest needed a shootout to decide who would skate to victory. Pierog was the only player to score in the shootout while Skarek stopped all three shots he faced as Worcester took home the 3-2 shootout win on home ice.
Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star: Nic Pierog (shootout winner) 2nd star: Kyle Thomas (1-0-1) 1st star: Dillan Fox (2-0-2) … Final shots were 35-26 in favor of Worcester… Connor LaCouvee (0-0-0-1) made 32 saves on 34 shots for Maine… Jakub Skarek (2-0-0) made 24 saves on 26 shots for Worcester and went three for three in the shootout while Evan Buitenhuis served as the backup… Worcester went 0-for-5 on the power play while Maine went 0-for-3… Anthony Florentino (injury), Henrik Samuelsson (injury), Chris Rygus, Jake Bolton and Ross Olsson did not dress for Worcester… Jordan Samuels-Thomas, Nic Pierog and Justin Murray led Worcester with four shots on goal… Forward Cody Payne made his professional debut for the Railers adding an assist… Barry Almeida wore the C while Mike Cornell and Connor Doherty wore A’s for the Railers… Worcester dressed four rookies and four veterans… Ryan Hitchcock, Connor Doherty, and Kyle Thomas all finished plus-1 … 5 different Railers recorded a point… The Railers will play the Mariners 18 times this season… Worcester is now 5-4-3-3 all-time vs. the Mariners… The Railers hit the road for four straight games starting Saturday night in Glens Falls vs. the Adirondack Thunder at 7 p.m.
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