Worcester Railers (23-22-5-4) vs Manchester Monarchs (29-24-1-2)

SNHU Arena – Manchester, New Hampshire

Wednesday, February 27, 2019 – 7:00 EST – ECHL Game #743

989 Nash Icon | ECHL.TV

Referee: Steven Rouillard (#3)

Linesmen: Kyle Richetelle (#73), AJ Potvin (#78)

Match Notes

  • Season Series: Game 8 of 12. (Manchester leads season-series at 4-3)
  • The previous two games between these two teams have been blowout wins for Manchester. Manchester has outscored Worcester 12-8 in 2019.
  • A win for Worcester and a Maine loss will place them two points out from the fourth playoff spot in the North. Manchester will be four points behind Adirondack if they win tonight.

Players to Watch

  • Bo Brauer (Worcester) – With a goal and an assist in Worcester’s 7-2 loss to Manchester, Brauer was one of the few players who showed up.
  • Tony Cameranesi (Manchester) – Cameranesi is coming off an impressive six-game point streak (5-5-10) that included two goals and an assist in last Wednesday’s match against Worcester.

Railers Notes

  • Barry Almeida, Josh Holmstrom, and Nick Sorkin each have four points against Manchester this season.
  • Dylan Willick and Tommy Kelley are the only two Worcester player with +/- ratings against Manchester, both at +1.
  • Ivan Kosorenkov has four shootout goals, tied with Toledo’s AJ Jenks for first.
  • Railers have played in fourteen games that have ended in overtime or a shootout and have won just five of them.
  • Cold Streaks: Alex Vanier (12 games), Tommy Kelley (6 games), Dylan Willick (5 games), Mike Cornell (3 games), Robert Powers (3 games), Yanick Turcotte (3 games)

Recent Railers Additions, Subtractions, Transactions

  • Ryan Hubbard was released as the EBUG on Monday.
  • Evan Buitenhuis was assigned to Worcester on Monday.
  • Malcolm Gould was traded to Newfoundland for future considerations on Tuesday.

Possible Railers Scratches

  • Connor Doherty – on injured reserve, last played on February 10.
  • Kyle McKenzie – on injured reserve, out for the season.
  • Tommy Panico – on injured reserve, out for the season.
  • Matt Schmalz – on injured reserve, last played on January 25.
  • Additional scratches to be determined closer to puck drop.

Monarchs Notes

  • Nic Pierog has ten points against Worcester in seven games this season and leads all rookies with 25 goals this year.
  • Newly acquired Kevin Dufour has six game-winning goals.
  • Manchester has three defensemen with 30 or more points this season – David Kolomatis, Daniil Miromanov, Travis Walsh.
  • Monarchs are averaging 2,378 fans per game this season, the second lowest in the league.

Recent Monarchs Additions, Subtractions, Transactions

  • Spencer Watson was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks organization on Monday.
  • Kevin Dufour was traded to Manchester on Friday in exchange for Eric Schurhamer and Zeb Knutson.
  • Brien Diffley was traded to Manchester from Wheeling on Friday.

Possible Monarchs Scratches

  • Dexter Dancs – on reserve, last played on February 16.
  • Jared Fiegl – on injured reserve, last played on January 8.
  • Pavel Jenys – on injured reserve, last played on December 28.
  • Mario Puskarich – on injured reserve, last played on December 29.
  • Danny Tirone – on reserve.
  • Additional scratches to be determined closer to puck drop.

Head-to-Head

Worcester  Manchester
Goals For  2.57 – 26th  3.21 – 13th
Goals Against  3.06 – 10th  3.23 – 14th
Shots For  31.93 – 12th  34.96 – 2nd
Shots Against  33.19 – 22nd  33.14 – 21st
Fighting Majors  40  21
Power Play  14.2% – 24th  16.0% – 18th
Penalty Kill  84.7% – 8th  81.8 % – 18th
Avg Height / Weight / Age  6′ 0″ / 191 lbs / 24.67 years  6′ 0″ / 194 lbs / 24.28 years

Team Records

Worcester  Manchester
Scoring First  16-7-1-2  20-7-0-2
Leading After 1  9-1-1-4  14-4-0-1
Leading After 2  14-0-1-2  18-2-0-1
Tied After 1  8-9-3-0  11-7-0-0
Tied After 2  7-6-2-2  8-5-0-0
Trailing After 1  6-12-1-0  4-13-1-1
Trailing After 2  2-16-2-0  3-17-1-1
Outshooting Opponents  9-9-2-3  13-17-1-1
Out Shot by Opponents  12-13-3-1  16-5-0-1

On the Island and at the Port

  • Isles Fall To Flames 3-1 [NHL]
  • Gibson Backstops 5-1 Win Against Hershey [Sound Tigers]
  • Isles host the Maple Leafs tomorrow, 7 PM.
  • Bridgeport will face Hershey on Saturday, 7PM.

Closing Statements

  • For live updates during the game, follow us on Twitter @WooHockeyNews.