Tikkanen Shines in 3-2 Win Over Maine

Worcester Railers HC at Maine Mariners

March 19th, 2023

Cross Insurance Arena

Meeting 9 of 10 vs the Mariners

Tikkanen Shines in 3-2 Win Over Maine

Railers are 4-5-0-0 vs the Mariners this season.

Anthony Callin scores first two professional goals

Portland, ME – The Worcester Railers HC (32-27-3-0, 67 points) capped off the final game of their four-game series against the Maine Mariners (33-23-2-1, 69 points) with a 3-2 win in front of 4,622 fans at the Cross Insurance Arena. Worcester is home Wednesday night for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop against the Adirondack Thunder.

Grant Gabrielle (1-0-1) scored the first goal of the game in the second period. Anthony Callin (2-0-2) scored Worcester’s first goal, and his first professional goal in the second to start a Worcester run. Andrei Bakanov (1-0-1) scored seventeen seconds later. Anthony Callin scored his second goal of the game another 2:04 after Bakanov to end the Worcester flurry of offense. Alex Kile (1-1-2) scored the only goal in the third period forty-five seconds in, while Worcester held strong the remainder of the period to pick up the win.

Henrik Tikkanen allowed zero pucks to find the back of the cage in the first period, stopping all eighteen shots he faced. Worcester’s offense only tallied four total shots. In the first, the Railers successfully killed two penalties, with the second one carrying over to the second period.

Worcester killed the remainder of Josh Victor’s tripping penalty, but another penalty from Worcester put them on the kill again. They were unable to hold Maine off this time, as Grant Gabrielle (7th) found the back of the net on their third power play of the day. Worcester found their way back into the contest halfway through the second period when they got their first power play opportunity. Anthony Callin (1st), younger brother of former Railer Drew Callin, scored the Railers first goal of the game, and his first professional goal on a drive from the far circle. Andrei Bakanov (4th) scored seventeen seconds later to give Worcester a one-goal lead. Callin (2nd) scored his second goal of the game two minutes later to give Worcester a two-goal lead. After a huge hit in the corner, a pane of glass popped out of the frame and landed in the stands, pausing the game. Play resumed five minutes later with a little less than six minutes to play in the period. Neither team would score for the rest of the period, Railers ahead 3-1.

Maine opted to put Michael Dipietro in net for the third period after Francois Brassard allowed three goals on 17 shots through the first two periods. Maine cut the lead in half forty-five seconds into the final period when Alex Kile (13th) fired one past Tikkanen, making it a 3-2 game in favor of Worcester. With less than eight minutes left to play Railers defensemen, Josh Victor, was tossed from the game for a misconduct penalty. After a scrum in front of Maine’s goal, Brent Beaudoin was sent to the box for two minutes. Worcester successfully killed that penalty. With two minutes and thirty seconds left, Maine pulled DiPietro in favor of an extra skater. Maine had three separate offensive zone faceoffs but failed to score on each chance. Worcester was able to outlast Maine despite being outshot 50-19.

Notes: 3rd Star: Alex Kile (1-1-2). 2nd Star: Anthony Callin (2-0-2). 1st Star: Henrik Tikkanen (48 saves on 50 shots. Jacob Hayhurst led the Railers with 4 shots. Alex Kile led the Mariners with 6 shots. Francois Brassard had 14 saves on 17 shots for, while Michael DiPietro had 2 saves on 2 shots each the Mariners. Henrik Tikkanen was one save shy of tying his career-high of 49.

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