Playing in their 500th franchise game, the Worcester Sharks got 36 saves from goaltender Harri Sateri but it wasn’t enough as the Connecticut Whale scored two times in the third period for a 2-1 victory Wednesday night at the XL Center. James Livingston had the lone goal for the Sharks, who remain in first place of the Atlantic Division by one point over the Providence Bruins and Manchester Monarchs.
In a scoreless first period highlighted by a fight between Sharks defenseman Matt Pelech and Whale forward Michael Haley at 10:54, Sateri stood on his head as the Sharks were outshot 13-6. The game remained scoreless until Livingston scored his first goal of the season at 18:22 of the second period off a wicked snap shot from the left wing that beat Whale goaltender Cameron Talbot glove side Sharks defenseman Sena Acolatse was credited with the only assist.
With a carry over power play to start the third period, the Whale answered back at 1:23 when forward Chad Kolarik ripped a shot from the right face-off circle past Sateri for his ninth goal of the season. Nearly five minutes later at 6:09, Whale rookie J.T. Miller broke down the left wing and finished off a 3-on-1 rush with a slap shot that beat Sateri glove side for his fifth goal of the season.
The Sharks had two power play opportunities to tie the game in the final 10 minutes of the period but went 0-for-2 and were outshot by the Whale 14-6 for the period. Sateri was pulled for the extra attack with 15-seconds remaining but the Sharks were unable to get a quality scoring chance.
NOTES… Shots were 38-26 in favor of the Whale… The Sharks went 0-for-6 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill… Sateri had his four game winning streak snapped and is now 4-5-0-1 with a 3.11 goals-against-average and .901 save percentage… Tim Kennedy had his eight game point streak snapped (7-7-14)… With the one fight, the Sharks have 33 through 24 games… Jimmy Bonneau (scr), Taylor Doherty (inj), Nick Petrecki (inj), Danny Groulx (inj), Matt Irwin (inj), Jon Matsumoto (inj) and Curt Gogol (inj) did not dress for the Sharks… Defenseman Mike Banwell was signed by the Sharks to a PTO before the game and wore no. 24… This was the third of four meetings between the teams this season… The Sharks are 0-3-0-0 against the Whale this season, 7-5-0-1 on the road and 12-9-1-2 with 27 points overall… The Sharks are 243-198-21-38 in 500 franchise games.
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