Sharks five game point streak comes to an end in 6-2 loss to the Whale

Sena Acolatse had a two point night with a goal and an assist, Bracken Kearns scored his team leading fifth goal of the season and captain John McCarthy had two assists but it wasn’t enough as the Worcester Sharks were defeated 6-2 by the Connecticut Whale at the DCU Center Saturday night.

Just 84-seconds into the game and on the Whale’s first shot on goal, Kris Newbury put the Whale up 1-0 with his fifth goal of the season off a wrist shot from on top of the face-off circles that beat Sateri glove side. Later in the period at 14:40 and with a power play advantage, Christian Thomas corralled a deflected puck off the skate of Acolatse and extended the Whale’s lead to 2-0 with his third goal of the season off a quick shot from deep inside the left face-off circle that beat Sateri.

In the second period, Whale defenseman Logan Pyett pushed the Whale lead to 3-0 at 10:19 with a power play goal, his second goal of the season, off a quick snap shot from inside the right face-off circle on a 3-on-2 rush that beat Sateri despite Sateri getting a piece of the puck with his glove.

Acolatse got the Sharks on the scoreboard with a power play goal, his fourth goal of the season, just 49-seconds into the third period off a a blazing shot from the right face-off circle dot that beat Whale goaltender Cameron Talbot over the shoulder. McCarthy and Tim Kennedy were credited with the assists on the goal.

That would be the closest the Sharks would get as Thomas ripped a one-timer from the top of the center point with traffic in front that beat Sateri through the pads for another power play goal at 3:22. Moments later at 5:17, Tommy Grant corralled a centering feed from Whale defenseman Matt Gilroy and tapped in his fifth goal of the season to extend the Whale lead to 5-1.

Kearns cut the Whale lead to 5-2 at 15:51 as he buried home a shot from on the doorstep after corralling a behind the net centering pass from Acolatse. Sharks head coach Roy Sommer decided to pull Sateri for the extra attacker after Kearns’ goal, which McCarthy got the secondary assist on, but Whale forward J.T. Miller scored an empty net goal at 18:31 for his second goal of the season and sealed a Whale victory.

With 40 seconds remaining in the game, a major scrum ensued that resulted in 36 penalty minutes being assessed. As play was going on in the neutral zone, Sharks defenseman Matt Pelech and Thomas engaged in a shoving match in front of the Whale penalty box. After linesman John Grandt wrapped up Pelech, Whale defenseman Blake Partlett and Newbury skated over to the action, which got the attention of Sharks forward Curt Gogol. As Gogol came flying in, Newbury dropped his gloves, pinned Gogol against the boards and landed three shots to the back of Gogol’s head before Gogol hit the ice. Newbury continued to punch a fallen Gogol, who never dropped his gloves, even though Gogol was being covered by linesman Bob Bernard. When Gogol got back to his feet, he challenged Newbury to a scrap but the linesmen would not let them fight. Both Newbury and Gogol got 12 penalty minutes a piece (two for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10 minute misconduct for continuing the altercation) while Pelech got two for roughing and the same 10 minute misconduct.

NOTES: Shots were 25-23 in favor of the Whale… The Sharks went 1-for-6 on the power play and 5-for-7 on the penalty kill… Sateri stopped 19-of-24 shots and is now 0-4-0-1 with a 4.04 goals-against-average and .851 save percentage… This was the first of four meetings between the teams this season… The teams combined for 68 penalty minutes, 40 of which were assessed to the Sharks… Thomas (2-0-2), Newbury (1-2-3), Gilroy (0-2-2), Chris Kreider (0-2-2) and Chad Kolarik (0-2-2) all had multi-point games for the Whale… Brodie Reid (inj), Nick Petrecki (inj), Frazer McLaren (inj), Mikael Tam (inj), Marek Viedensky (scr) and Jimmy Bonneau (scr) did not dress for the Sharks… The Sharks finished their four game home stand 2-1-1-0 and are now 4-2-1-0 at the DCU Center this season… The Sharks are now 5-5-1-1 overall.

Three Stars
1. Kris Newbury – Whale (1-2-3)
2. Christian Thomas – Whale (2-0-2)
3. Matt Gilroy – Whale (0-2-2)