Worcester Sharks goaltender J.P. Anderson made 26 saves for his first professional career shutout and forward Micheal Haley scored the game’s lone goal at 4:22 of the second period as the Sharks defeated the Portland Pirates (AHL affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes) 1-0 Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center.
Anderson, who made his ninth appearance for the Sharks this season after appearing in 23 ECHL games last season for the San Francisco Bulls and Ontario Reign, became the first right catching goaltender to register a shutout for the Sharks.
“I’ve never been very big on shutouts,” said Anderson post game to Bill Ballou of Telegram.com. “The more important thing for me is putting together consistent games. Do that, one after another, and every else adds up.”
“He was good the whole game,” said Sharks head coach Roy Sommer of Anderson post game to Ballou. “He made a really big save for us, a shot from right in front, with just a couple of minutes left. If that had gone in, who knows what could have happened.”
After scoring seven goals in 53 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack last season, Haley scored his team leading ninth goal this season by getting positioning in front of Pirates goaltender Mike McKenna and had linemate Bryan Lerg’s wrist shot from the edge of the right faceoff circle in the slot deflect off him and in for a power play goal.
“That’s where most of my goals are going to come from,” said Haley post game to Ballou. “That’s the place I’ve got to be if something’s gonna happen for me.
“If everybody on the team had the same kind of luck I’m having now, we’d all be scoring a lot of goals.”
NOTES… Shots on goal were 34-26 in favor of the Sharks… The Sharks went 1-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill… Anderson is now 3-6-0 with a 2.77 goals-against-average and .894 save percentage… Sharks forward Eriah Hayes had a game high six shots on goal… The Sharks have played four 1-0 games in their last 12 after playing five 1-0 games in their first 641 (via Ballou)… Haley joined the AHL 1000 penalty minutes club Saturday night and has 1,291 for his career between the ECHL/AHL/NHL (via Ballou)… This was the fourth of eight meetings between the Sharks and Pirates this season… The Sharks are 2-2-0 against the Pirates, 7-5-2 at the DCU Center and 11-12-2 with 24 points overall… The Sharks kick off their second consecutive three-in-three weekend Dec. 19 as they travel to play the Manchester Monarchs at 7pm/et.
THREE STARS
1. J.P. Anderson – Sharks (26 saves, Shutout win)
2. Micheal Haley – Sharks (1-0-1)
3. Mike McKenna – Pirates (33 saves)
LINES
Tarasov / Oleksuk / Hamilton
Lerg (C) / Trupp / Langlois
Haley / Burish / Carpenter
Bonneau / Schwartz / Hayes
DEFENSE
Abeltshauser / DeMelo
Young / Fedun
Taormina (A) / Jones
GOALIES
Anderson
Grosenick
SCRATCHES
Blazek
Doherty (inj)
Emanuelsson (inj)
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