Mariners Down Railers 4-2 on Wednesday Night

By Bill BallouWORCESTER – The Worcester Railers fell to the Maine Mariners by a final of 4-2 on Wednesday night. Despite the loss,  Worcester still is in control of its playoff destiny.Not that it will be easy, but it is mathematically possible because the last three Railers games are all against the fifth-place Adirondack Thunder.Worcester remains in fourth place, one point ahead of Adirondack, but the Thunder have six games left to the Railers’ three. However, if Worcester wins those three head-to-head games in regulation it will finish with 76 points.If Adirondack wins those three other games, but loses the trio to the Railers, it will finish with 75 points. There is actually some wiggle room there, too, since Worcester would win the tie-breaker (games won) if the teams deadlock in points.The Railers came out of the tunnel with a tremendous amount of energy and dominated the first period, although it ended at 0-0.Worcester then scored power play goals at 1:02 and 9:10 of the second period and halfway through the game had a 2-0 lead.The Mariners the came back and scored three goals on three shots from 10:16 through 13:01 to take a lead they never relinquished. Maine added another goal late in the third period to create the final score.Nolan Vesey and Anthony Repaci had the Railers goals. Austin Albrecht, Tyler Hinam, Reid Stefanson and Tim Doherty scored for Maine. The goalies were Ken Appleby for Worcester, Michael DiPietro for the Mariners.If the game had been played only by special teams, Worcester would probably have won. The Railers were 2 for 4 on the power play and killed all four of their penalties. Not only did they kill the penalties, they had the better of the scoring chances.Four times while they were on the penalty kill the Railers had odd-man rushes or breakaways that wound up as one-on-ones with DiPietro. Worcester did not get one goal out of those opportunities.In their last seven games the Railers have scored 15 goals on 245 shots. The last two losses they’ve scored on 3 of 70 shots on goal.Vesey scored the first Railers goal as he corraled a rebound of Steve Jandric’s shot to beat DiPietro. The goal extended Vesey’s points streak to four games. Repaci fired home a one-timer from the right dot, set up by Trevor Cosgrove, at 9:10.It was Repaci’s 25th of the season. He joined coach Jordan Smotherman and Tyler Barnes as the only Railers to have reached that plateau.Albrecht broke through at 10:16, Hinam tied it at 11:44 and Stefanson put Maine ahead at 13:01. Doherty’s insurance goal came at 15:28.Adirondack’s games in hand are not gimmes. It plays Friday night at home versus Maine, Sunday at Maine and April 14 at Trois-Rivieres.The Thunder and Railers play here Saturday night, then back to back in Glens Falls the final weekend of the regular season. MAKING TRACKS – Saturday night’s game is the last one of the regular season and is the annual Fan Appreciation Night. There will be prizes and giveaways. The Railers have already surpassed last season’s total attendance and a big crowd could push them over the 4,000 mark in average attendance for the season. … The Railers re-signed rookie forward Nick Fea and he skated a regular shift. Experienced defenseman Ryan Da Silva made his Worcester debut. Equipment manager Todd MacGowan dug deep for Fea’s new number, 3. He is merely the second forward in Worcester hockey history to wear that number. James Desmarais had it for the IceCats in 2000. … The Mariners won the season series, 6-4-0. Maine won four of five at the DCU Center. … Attendance was 2,535