Game Story

St. John’s, Newfoundland — Making their first trip to St. John’s on Monday, the Worcester Railers took on the Newfoundland Growlers on Tuesday for the first of two games this week. Struggles continued with a 3-1 loss on Tuesday.

Mitch Gillam made his anticipated return to the Railers roster after spending four days with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Gillam was the starter for Worcester after two solid performances by Evan Buitenhuis in both losses to Adirondack and Newfoundland last weekend. Gillam making 30 stops on 33 shots.  Michael Garteig was in net for the Growlers, who made 30 saves.

Derian Plouffe scored first for Newfoundland on a shot on a rush from the left of goaltender Mitch Gillam. Josh Holmstrom picked up his fifth goal of the season, tapping in his rebounded shot off the pad of Michael Garteig. Shots were 14-8 in favor of Worcester after the opening 20 minutes.

Railers power play continues to be an issue as they had a four-minute power play to start the second and failed to get a single shot on goal. Railers are now 2 for 34 for the season on the power play, ranked at 26. Railers had a rough start to the second period, tallying just one shot in the first ten minutes, but looked better as the period went on, adding 7 shots on goal in comparison to Newfoundland’s 12.

Josh Kestner collected his fifth goal of the season slipping the puck past Gillam at the crease for Newfoundland’s second lead of the night at 3:58 in the third. Kestner extended Newfoundland’s goal to two with his second of the game, first on the power play, at 10:42 in the third on a deflected shot. Newfoundland took game 1 of this road trip, 3-1.

Railers’ offense continues to be lacking the most with their fourth straight loss. Tuesday’s lines seemed to back where they were before the slump, with the addition of Alex Vanier being the only mix-up with the forwards. It’s a surprise that two of the Railers top forwards, Josh Holmstrom and Nick Bligh, were not on a line with Sorkin as they were on Saturday. Offense continues to be the Railers’ biggest problem with nine games in the books.

The Three Stars of the Game Were:

  1. Josh Kestner (Newfoundland) – 2 goals
  2. JJ Piccinich (Newfoundland) – Fight, vs Brian Arneson
  3. Kyle Cuminsky (Newfoundland) – 2 shots

Take Two: The Railers and Growlers will clash again tomorrow afternoon at 5:30 PM. For those looking to catch the game – head over to the Railers Tavern for the viewing party!

Scoring 1 2 3 T
Worcester Railers 1 0 0 0
Newfoundland Growlers 1 0 2 0
Shots 1 2 3 T
Worcester Railers 14 7 10 30
Newfoundland Growlers 8 12 13 33

 

Railers Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 34 E. Buitenhuis 0 0 0 0 0
G 35 M. Gillam 0 0 0 0 0
D 2 T. Panico 0 0 0 1 0
D 3 A. Vanier 0 0 0 0 0
D 4 R. MacKinnon 0 0 0 1 2
D 5 K. McKenzie 0 0 0 0 0
D 6 M. Cornell 0 0 -1 0 0
F 7 T. Barnes 0 0 -1 2 0
F 8 N. Sorkin 0 0 -1 4 2
F 9 A. Block 0 0 0 1 2
F 11 D. Willick 0 0 0 2 0
F 12 J. Holmstrom 1 0 0 3 0
F 18 B. Arneson 0 0 0 2 7
F 19 B. Almeida 0 0 -1 7 0
D 20 D. Quenneville 0 0 -1 2 0
F 22 N. Bligh 0 1 0 3 0
F 23 W. Hudson 0 1 0 1 0
D 24 T. Mueller 0 0 0 2 0
Team:
Totals: 1 2 -5 31 13
No Name Min SH SVS GA
35 M. Gillam (L) 58:38 33 30 3
Totals: 58:38 33 30 3
Growlers Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 31 M. Culina 0 0 0 0 0
G 34 M. Garteig 0 0 0 0 0
D 3 K. Cumiskey 0 0 0 2 0
D 5 K. Rubins 0 0 +1 2 0
D 8 E. Neugold 0 0 -1 1 0
F 9 M. Power 0 0 0 2 0
F 11 D. Plouffe 1 0 +1 5 0
F 12 S. Pooley 0 1 +1 1 0
F 14 J. Piccinich 0 0 0 3 4
F 16 H. Elynuik 0 0 0 0 0
F 22 B. Ferguson 0 1 +1 4 0
D 23 S. LeBlanc 0 1 +1 0 0
F 26 J. Kestner 2 0 +1 3 0
F 27 M. Bradley 0 0 -1 5 0
F 29 G. Estephan 0 1 0 3 0
F 40 R. Moore 0 1 +1 0 2
D 43 J. Melindy 0 0 0 2 5
D 46 A. Cortese 0 0 0 0 0
Team:
Totals: 3 5 5 33 11
No Name Min SH SVS GA
34 M. Garteig (W) 60:00 31 30 1
Totals: 60:00 31 30 1
P T Player M Offense Time
1st V B. Arneson 5.00 Fighting – Major (46.14) 8:27
1st H J. Melindy 5.00 Fighting – Major (46.14) 8:27
1st V R. MacKinnon 2.00 Slashing – minor (61.2) 18:46
2nd H J. Piccinich 4.00 Spearing (attempt) Double Minor (62.2) 0:56
2nd V N. Sorkin 2.00 Slashing – minor (61.2) 4:24
3rd V A. Block 2.00 Hooking – minor (55.2) 9:55
3rd V B. Arneson 2.00 Cross-Checking Minor (59.2) 13:50
3rd H R. Moore 2.00 Slashing – minor (61.2) 17:22

Notes

  • Railers Scratches: Tommy Kelley (14-day IR), Yanick Turcotte (14-day IR), Ivan Korsorenkov (immigration issues), Connor Doherty and Tommy Tsicos.
  • All players except for Ivan Korsorenkov and Yanick Turcotte traveled with the team to Newfoundland. With Tommy Kelley making the trip, his return to action looks closer and closer.
  • Mitch Gillam made his return to Worcester on Monday, after spending four days up in Bridgeport and was the backup goalie for three games during the weekend.
  • David Quenneville made his return to the Railers after missing a few games due to injury. His participation was limited during the game to mostly power play opportunities and it discussed on the radio feed that he is overcoming a wrist injury.
  • Alex Vanier saw some shifts as a forward during Tuesday’s game as the Railers were short a forward. Vanier split his time between the third defense line and the third forward line, stepping in for Quenneville for every other shift or so.

Railers Lines (Observed by order in which they appeared):

LW C RW
Forward Line 1  B. Almeida #19 “A”  N. Sorkin #8  T. Barnes #7
Forward Line 2  N. Bligh #22  J. Holmstrom #12 “A”  W. Hudson #23
Forward Line 3  A. Block #9 / A. Vanier #3  D. Willick #11  B. Arneson #18

 

LD RD
Defense Line 1  K. McKenzie  M. Cornell #6 “C”
Defense Line 2  T. Panico #2  R. MacKinnon #4
Defense Line 3  T. Mueller #24  D. Quenneville #20 / A. Vanier #3

 

G
Starting Goaltender  Mitch Gillam #35
Backup Goaltender  Evan Buitenhuis #34

Highlights