Making his first back-to-back start of the season, Harri Sateri stopped 51 shots in regulation and was a perfect 5-for-5 in the shootout to earn his third win in a row as the Worcester Sharks defeated the Providence Bruins 3-2 in the shootout Sunday afternoon at the Dunkin Donuts Center. James Sheppard scored the game-winning-goal in the shootout while rookie Yanni Gourde and Tim Kennedy scored in regulation for the Sharks, who regained first place of the Atlantic Division with the win.
Despite getting outshot 25-8 in the first period, the Sharks found themselves tied 1-1 with the Bruins after 20 minutes of play. The Bruins struck first at 14:23 when forward Christian Hanson deflected in a centering feed from the left wall by Bruins defenseman Matt Bartkowski past Sateri for his third goal of the season.
Gourde answered back for the Sharks at 19:27 with an unassisted shorthanded goal, his sixth goal of the season, off a wicked snap shot from the left face-off circle that got past Bruins goaltender Niklas Svedberg and went in off the upper post before coming back out. Initially, Gourde was not awarded the goal as the red light never came on but after video review, the officials awarded the goal to Gourde.
In the second period, Bruins rookie Justin Florek gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 3:59 with his first goal of the season off a shot from the side of the net that beat Sateri after the Sharks got sloppy inside the own zone and failed to clear the puck on several chances.
With the Sharks on a power play midway through the period, Kennedy extended his point streak to six games by scoring his fifth goal in his last three games with his team leading 11th goal of the season at 10:32 off a blast of a shot from the left face-off circle. Brodie Reid and Sena Acolatse were credited with the assists.
After a scoreless third period and overtime session that saw the Sharks outshot 16-10, the teams headed to the shootout where Sheppard scored the only goal by beating Svedberg through the wickets while Sateri stopped all five Bruins shooters for the Sharks win.
NOTES: Shots were 53-32 in favor of the Bruins… The Sharks went 1-for-5 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill… Sateri is now 3-4-2-1 with a 3.39 goals-against-average and .892 save percentage… In his back-to-back start, Sateri stopped 86-of-90 shots and was a perfect 9-for-9 in the shootout… Kennedy has 11 points (6-5-11) during his six game point streak and is fourth in AHL scoring with 23 points (11-12-23)… Gourde’s shorthanded goal was the first Sharks shorthanded goal in 69 games… Taylor Doherty (inj), Nick Petrecki (inj), Danny Groulx (inj), Jimmy Bonneau (scr), Travis Oleksuk (scr) and Matt Pelech (susp) did not dress for the Sharks… The Sharks dressed only five defensemen… This was the third of 12 meetings between the teams this season… The Sharks are 3-0-0-0 against the Bruins this season, 6-4-0-1 on the road, 4-1-0-0 on Sunday afternoons and 11-8-1-1 with 24 points overall.
Three Stars
1. James Sheppard – Sharks (GWG in SO)
2. Harri Sateri – Sharks (51 saves, win)
3. Christian Hanson – Bruins (1-1-2)
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