Worcester tallies three power-play goals in the third period
BY: Jordan Kuhns, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
WORCESTER, Mass. — The Greenville Swamp Rabbits held a 2-0 lead on the Worcester Railers on the road. However, the Railers forced Greenville errors into power-play chances and struck three times on the man advantage to defeat Greenville 3-2 on Friday night at DCU Center.
Adam Larkin‘s delay of game penalty turned into a Ryan Hitchcock power-play goal to pull Worcester within one. A two-man advantage, fueled by Kamerin Nault‘s slashing minor, and Will Merchant‘s delay of game minor penalty, gave Worcester its best chance. With Nault’s penalty having just expired, Tyler Barnes scored his first of the night on a deflection in front of Chris Nell’s net.
Worcester took the lead they would not relinquish on a Michael Pelech tripping penalty, where Barnes found himself wide open on the back door and scored on his own rebound to put Worcester up 3-2.
Worcester’s power play went 3-for-5 on the night. Their penalty kill stopped both Swamp Rabbits opportunities.
Greenville played as close to a perfect road game as possible in the effort, holding a Railers club starved for goals off of the board, and scoring twice. In fact, it was the Swamp Rabbits who struck first in the game, thanks to a more common source in the first period. After Nault carried the puck into the offensive zone down the left wing boards, a centering pass found its way back to Luke Ripley, who bombed the puck into the back of the net and opened the scoring.
In the second period, the lead was doubled. Chad Duchesne and Larkin teamed up on a point shot that found the stick of Dylan Vander Esch, who deflected the puck through Mitch Gillam in the Worcester crease to increase the lead to 2-0. The Swamp Rabbits found ways to get to the net and get rewarded, much like their last win against Atlanta.
Worcester struck on three of their nine shots on goal in the third period to throw a wrench into those plans and pick up the comeback win over the Swamp Rabbits on Friday night. The game closed out the three-game series, in which the Railers picked up wins in two of the three games.
The three-game weekend continues in Maine for a matchup with the Mariners at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 9. Catch all of the action on the Swamp Rabbits Broadcast Network, or on ECHL.TV.
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