Worcester offense explodes in win over Providence

The six game losing streak is over!

A four goal second period sparked the Worcester Sharks to a 5-2 win over their Atlantic Division rival the Providence Bruins (AHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins) Saturday night at the DCU Center.

13 different skaters registered a point for the Sharks, who won for the first time since Nov. 11, and goaltender J.P. Anderson finished with 22 saves for his second win of the season and first win on home ice.

“Like I’ve said, our last few games, we haven’t been bad,” said Sharks head coach Roy Sommer in a post game interview with Bill Ballou of Telegram.com. “We’ve outchanced some teams, outplayed some teams, and we finally got rewarded,”

Even though the Sharks won by three goals, they found themselves trailing just 11-seconds into the game as Providence forward Brian Ferlin found a rebound on top of the crease and lifted a shot past the outstretched stick of Anderson for his fourth goal of the season.

“It seems like we’ve been playing from behind all year, but it was just an unfortunate goal really, a bad bounce,” said Sharks defenseman Matt Taormina post game to Ballou.

The Sharks tied the game at 8:41 when on a three-on-one rush led by defenseman Taylor Doherty, forward Jeremy Langlois found a rebound deep in the slot and buried the puck past Providence goaltender Malcolm Subban for his fourth goal of the season. Sharks forward Adam Burish, who took the initial shot on goal from the left circle, was credited with the primary assist.

With a power play opportunity near the tail end of the period, Providence went ahead 2-1 at 16:37 when forward Jordan Caron poked the puck past Anderson off a mad scramble on top of the crease for his seventh goal of the season.

In the second period, Sharks forward Travis Oleksuk tied the game at 1:52 when he fired a bouncing puck from on top of the crease past Subban for his first goal of the season. Oleksuk’s linemates Ryan Carpenter and Evan Trupp registered the assists on the goal.

Trupp put the Sharks ahead 3-2 at 3:49 when he fired the puck into an open net from the gap in-between the right circle and the goal line for a power play goal, his fifth goal of the season. Carpenter, who slid the puck across the crease to Trupp, and Sharks defenseman Konrad Abeltshauser, who took the initial shot from the left point that was blocked in front by Carpenter, had the assists on the goal, which snapped the Sharks’ streak of 24 unsuccessful power play opportunities.

The lead was extended to 4-2 at 10:09 when Taormina beat Subban with a rocket of a shot from the top of the center point for a power play goal, his third goal of the season. Sharks defenseman Taylor Fedun and forward Daniil Tarasov were credited with the assists.

Sharks forward Micheal Haley gave the Sharks a 5-2 lead at 18:33 when he redirected the puck from inside the left slot past Subban to finish off a two-on-one rush with forward Chris Tierney. Sharks forward Eriah Hayes had the secondary assist on the goal, which was Haley’s team leading sixth of the season. For the period, the Sharks scored four goals on 20 shots.

“We had been struggling a little bit,” said Taromina, “but it wasn’t just the power play, but everywhere. We weren’t scoring five-on-five, either, but (Saturday) night, everything clicked.”

NOTES… Shots on goal were 32-24 in favor of the Sharks… The Sharks went 2-for-4 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill… Anderson is now 2-5-0 with a 3.17 goals-against-average and .885 save percentage… Langlois had a team high four shots on goal… The Sharks came into the game with seven second period goals… Trupp has a two game goal streak… Caron’s power play goal snapped the Sharks’ streak of 17 consecutive penalty kills… This was the fourth of 12 meetings between the Sharks and Providence… the Sharks are 4-0-0 against Providence, 6-4-2 at the DCU Center and 9-8-2 with 20 points overall… The Sharks are back in action Dec. 2 as they travel to take on the Portland Pirates at 7pm/et.

THREE STARS
1. Evan Trupp – Sharks (1-1-2)
2. Matt Taormina – Sharks (1-0-1)
3. Travis Oleksuk – Sharks (1-0-0)

LINES
Tarasov / Tierney / Karlsson
Haley (A) / Hamilton / Hayes
Trupp / Oleksuk / Carpenter
Lerg (C) / Langlois / Burish

DEFENSE
Taormina (A) / Doherty
Young / Fedun
Abeltshauser / DeMelo

GOALIES
Anderson
Dell

SCRATCHES
Emanuelsson (inj)
Bonneau
Jones
Schwartz