Sharks Drop 7th Straight with 6-4 Loss at Pirates

February 27, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Worcester Sharks News Release


Lewiston, ME - The Worcester Sharks (23-26-3-1, 50pts) dropped their franchise record tying 7th straight game in regulation with a 6-4 loss to the Portland Pirates (20-25-2-7, 49pts) in front of 1,731 fans at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Tuesday evening.

Travis Oleksuk (11th), Konrad Abeltshauser (4th), James Livingston (4th), and Rob Davison (2nd) scored for Worcester while Troy Grosenick allowed five goals on 21 shots in net for the Sharks in the loss. Portland led 1-0, 3-1, and 5-2 before Tobias Rieder scored his 20th of the season into an empty net at 19:31 as the Pirates snapped a four game skid with the win. Worcester outshot Portland 39-22 but Mark Visentin made 35 saves in net for the victory.

The Sharks went 0-for-5 on the power play and outshot the Pirates 20-7 in the first period but trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes. Portland scored on their first shot as Brett Hextall (9th) let one rip from the right circle that handcuffed goaltender Troy Grosenick at 5:13 to put the Pirates ahead 1-0. Travis Oleksuk (11th) tied the score at 8:05 after he finished a centering feed from the right corner courtesy of Yanni Gourde past Portland goaltender Mark Visentin. Brendan Shinnimin (7th) found a loose rebound on top of the crease and fired it home to give Portland a 2-1 advantage. Worcester had five power plays including a full two minute 5-on-3 power play but came up empty as Mark Visentin made 19 first period saves.

After a slow start to the second period, Portland would outscore Worcester 3-1 within a five minute spell late in the middle frame. Tobias Rieder (19th) snapped home a power play goal from 15 feet at 12:28 to give Portland a 3-1 lead. Konrad Abeltshauser (4th) scored shorthanded after he followed up a Yanni Gourde shot at 15:18 as the Sharks closed the Pirates lead to 3-2. But just 11 seconds later, Andy Miele (22nd) wristed a shot from the right circle at 15:29 on the power play to put Portland ahead 4-2. Brendan Shinnimin (8th) finished off the second period onslaught with his second of the night as the Sharks trailed 5-2 after 40 minutes despite outshooting the Pirates 30-16 after two periods.

The Sharks would score twice in the first five minutes of the third period to get within a single score. James Livingston (4th) broke a 33 game goal scoring drought by deflecting a Taylor Doherty shot from the point at 1:04 to cut the Pirates lead to 5-3. Captain Rob Davison (2nd) fired a blast from the left circle at 4:29 to get Worcester within a 5-4 score. But Worcester could not solve Mark Visentin the rest of the way and the Sharks did not have a shot in the final five minutes as Tobias Rieder (20th) closed the game out at 19:31 with an empty net goal for the 6-4 final.

The Sharks overall record falls to 23-26-3-1, 50pts and 11-15-3-0, 25pts on the road.

Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star: Rostislav Klesla (0-2-2) 2nd star: Tobias Rieder (2-1-3) 1st star: Brendan Shinnimin (2-0-2)... Final shots were 39-22 in favor of Worcester...Mark Visentin made 34 saves on 39 shots for Portland ... Troy Grosenick made 16 saves on 21 shots for Worcester.... Worcester went 0-for-5 on the power play while Portland went 2-for-5... JP Anderson (inj), John McCarthy (inj), Matt Pelech (inj), Sena Acolatse (inj), Rylan Schwartz, and Jimmy Bonneau (inj) did not dress for Worcester... Sharks have been outscored 35-10 in the seven game losing streak having scored just 10 goals on 238 shots.... the Sharks have not had a lead in 420 minutes....Bracken Kearns played his 1st game Worcester since Dec 28 after appearing in 21 games with the SJ Sharks.... Rylan Schwartz missed his 1st game of the season....Yanni Gourde (0-2-2), James Livingston (1-1-2), and Taylor Doherty (0-2-2) all had multi-point games for Worcester.... Rob Davison fought Phil Lane late in 2nd period... the Sharks finished the month of February with a 2-8-0-0 record.

Coming up... The Sharks travel Bridgeport on Saturday to battle the Sound Tigers at 7pm.

Worcester returns home on Sunday with a 3pm start vs. the Springfield Falcons on $5 Kid's Sunday presented by Hebert Candies! The first 2,000 fans will receive a Back to the Future movie poster presented by WTAG featuring Logan Couture, Tommy Wingels, and Matt Irwin!



American Hockey League Stories from February 27, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central