Whale Take 3rd from Sharks
March 12, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Worcester Sharks News Release
HARTFORD, CT- Tommy Wingels scored twice for Worcester, but it was the only offense the Sharks would muster as the Sharks fell to the Whale 4-2 at the XL Center on Saturday night in a battle for third place in the Atlantic Division.
The Sharks and the Whale came into the game tied for the 3rd and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Atlantic Division with 72 points each and 15 games remaining to open up the home and home series.
Tommy Wingels scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season, Brandon Mashinter extended his point streak to four games with an assist and Tyson Sexsmith was solid with 29 saves in net.
It was a quick moving, high paced first period that saw just a single score. Tommy Wingels (13th) scored in his 2nd straight game after he found a bouncing puck at the side of the net during a goal mouth scramble and banked the puck off a body and into the net past Dov Grumet-Morris at 8:07 to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead. Tyson Sexsmith made 10 saves in the first period to keep the Whale at bay.
The Whale outshot Worcester 13-5 in the middle period and scored the only two goals, with both coming on the power play to take a 2-1 lead. With Nick Petrecki and Nick Schaus in the box, Jeremy Williams (26th) sent a laser over the shoulder of Sexsmith from on top of the left circle to tie the score 1-1 at 13:20. Chad Kolarik (21st) banged in a loose rebound at the side of the net at 14:02 to give Connecticut the 2-1 advantage after two periods.
Jeremy Williams (27th) scored on a breakaway just 94 seconds into the third period after a terrific breakout from the defensive zone by the Whale to put CT up 3-1. Tommy Wingels (14th) got the Sharks back within one after he collected a rebound off an initial point shot by Nick Petrecki and fired the puck into an empty net to put the Sharks down just 3-2. Dale Weiss (14th) added an empty net goal at 19:18 to secure the Whale victory.
The Sharks record falls to 30-24-4-8 with 72 points and to 13-14-2-4 on the road. Worcester has 14 games remaining on their 80 game AHL regular season schedule (7 home, 7 away)
Notes: Perfect Game Three Stars: 3rd Star: Chad Kolarik (1-0-1) 2nd star: Tommy Wingels (2-0-2) 1st star: Jeremy Williams (2-0-2) ... Final shots were 33-23 in favor of the Whale... Dov Grumet-Morris made 21 saves on 23 shots for the Whale; Tyson Sexsmith made 29 saves on 32 shots for the Sharks... Worcester went 0-4 on the power play while Connecticut went 2-6...Tony Lucia (inj), James Marcou (inj), Jonathan Cheechoo (inj), Alex Stalock (inj), Jody Pederson (scr), and Cam MacIntyre (inj) did not dress for the Sharks... Andrew Desjardins and Justin Braun are currently on recall with San Jose... Brandon Mashinter extended his point streak to four games (3-1-4).... Nick Petrecki picked up his 10th fighting major with Jared Nightingale in the 2nd period, the Sharks 75th fight of the season... the Sharks have lost five straight games to the Whale dating back to the first week in December.
On Sunday, the Sharks wrap of their 4-game-in-5-day stretch with a 3pm battle at the DCU Center vs. the CT Whale on Go Green Night presented by Superior Waste! Bring in your unwanted computers, monitors, and paper to be recycled by Superior Waste! Its $5 Kids Sundays presented by Papa Gino's! Kids 12-and-under are just $5 with a purchase of an adult gold level ticket! With each complete purchase (along with the purchase of an adult gold level ticket) fans will receive a FREE large cheese pizza coupon to be used at participating Papa Gino's locations. The $5 Kids Sunday ticket offer will only be available at the DCU Center Box Office on the day of the game.
Get your family fun pack (4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, and 4 sodas) for just $69 for all Friday, Saturday, and Sunday games! (must be purchased through the Sharks front office in advance at 508-929-0500).
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