Tim Kennedy, Sena Acolatse and Danny Groulx each had a goal and two assists, and Alex Stalock stopped 33-of-35 shots as the Worcester Sharks wrapped up their three-in-three weekend by defeating the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center for the second time in three days.
Just 46-seconds into the game, Sharks captain John McCarthy put the Sharks up 1-0 with his first goal of the season off a quick shot from the left face-off circle that got through the pads of Sound Tigers goalie Kenny Reiter. Matt Tennyson and Kennedy were credited with the assists.
At 5:58 and with the Sharks on their first power play of the game, Kennedy skated down the left side, went behind Reiter’s net and flipped the puck over a down Reiter on the far side for his third goal of the season. The goal was assisted by Acolatse and Groulx.
On the Sharks’ second power play of the game, Groulx scored his first goal of the season at 10:04 off a laser of a shot from the point that got through a screen and beat Reiter over the shoulder. Acolatse and Kennedy were credited with the assists.
In the second period, things got chippy as Sharks defenseman Mike Banwell dropped the gloves with Sound Tigers forward Brandon DeFazio at 4:41 after Stalock was ran into by the Sound Tigers. Shortly thereafter, Acolatse extended the Sharks lead to 4-0 with his third goal of the season at 8:10 off a blast from the point that was assisted by Matt Irwin and James Livingston.
Jordan Hill quickly answered back for the Sound Tigers with his first goal of the season at 10:08 off a shot from the center point that got through traffic in front and beat Stalock through the pads to end the shutout bid. A little over four minutes later at 14:11, the Sound Tigers cut the Sharks lead to 4-2 when Colin McDonald scored his first goal of the season off a rebound on a power play.
In the third period, Sharks rookie Sebastian Stalberg found Jon Matsumoto all alone in front of Reiter, and Matsumoto displayed some fancy puck handling skills before sliding the the puck past Reiter for his second goal of the season at 15:43. Stalberg and Groulx were credited with the assists.
Things got ugly towards the end of the game, starting with Sound Tigers forward Nino Niederreiter kneeing Acolatse at 16:42. With three seconds remaining in the game, Sound Tigers forward Brett Gallant jumped Curt Gogol after both exchanged stick swings at each other. Gogol turtled up but Gallant continued to throw punches to the back of Gogol’s head. Sharks enforcer Frazer McLaren saw enough and started firing away on Gallant. 22 penalty minutes were handed out as Hill got two minutes for hooking, Gogol and Gallant both got five for fighting and McLaren got a misconduct for continuing the altercation.
NOTES: Shots were 46-35 in favor of the Sharks… The Sharks went 2-for-7 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill… Stalock earned his 61st win as a Shark and is now 2-2-0 with a 3.23 goals-against-average and .881 save percentage… This was the second of six meetings between the teams this season… Matt Pelech (susp), Brodie Reid (inj), Taylor Doherty (inj), Mikael Tam (inj), Jimmy Bonneau (scr), Travis Oleksuk (scr), Marek Viedensky (scr) and Daniil Tarasov (scr) did not dress for the Sharks… The Sharks are now 2-4-0-1 overall.
Three Stars
1. Tim Kennedy – Sharks (1-2-3)
2. Alex Stalock – Sharks (33 saves)
3. Sena Acolatse – Sharks (1-2-3)
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