COMEBACK FALLS SHORT IN 5-3 LOSS TO LIONS

By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – Was it Daniel Boone, Myles Standish or even Mary Queen of Scots who first said that, when you walk five miles into the woods you have to walk five miles to get back out.

Five miles is manageable, and with the season one-third over, the Railers still have time to find daylight. Things will have to start happening fast, though.

Worcester lost again Friday night, 5-3, to the Trois-Rivieres Lions. After a dreary effort against Reading Wednesday night the Railers showed a lot more intensity. They fell behind, 4-1, and almost came back. The last goal was an empty netter.

The Railers engaged in two real fights, not hold-me-back events, and one of them involved Jordan Kaplan. He also scored a goal and assisted on another. It marked the Railers’ first Gordie Howe Hat Trick since March 19, 2022 when Mitchell Balmas had one here versus Newfoundland.

The other bout was probably the best in the DCU Center since the Yanick Turcotte days. Kolby Johnson won it, as he staggered Mathieu Boislard with a right to the temple at 2:32 of the first period.

Cam McDonald and Anthony Repaci were the other Worcester goal scorers. It was McDonald’s first professional goal. Repaci also had an assist. Connor Welch had two assists.

Alex Beaucage and Anthony Beauregard both had two goals for the Lions. Beaucage has six goals in five games for Trois-Rivieres. Isaac Dufort had the other.

The goalies were both busy. Hunter Jones stopped 25 of 28 shots. John Muse stopped 24 of 28 for Worcester.

Thanks to McDonald the Railers had a 1-0 lead halfway through the first period, then Beauregard tied it at 14:10 and Beaucage gave the Lions a permanent lead at 19:38.

The game got away from the Railers in a span of less than a minute early in the second period. Beauregard scored a 5 on 3 power play goal at 3:07, just after Matias Rajaniemi had joined William Provost in the box. Rajaniemi got a double minor for high sticking and had to stay in the penalty box after the goal.

He was still there when Dufort scored at 3:56.

Repaci made it 4-2 on the power play at 13:48 of the second period. Kaplan put home his own rebound at 1:23 of the third period. That Worcester plenty of time to tie the game but Jones was very good when he had to be.

Beaucage hit the empty net with exactly a minute left in the game.

Friday night marked the debut of newly acquired Riley Ginnell and the return of forward Jack Randl, who had missed seven games with an injury.

MAKING TRACKS – Once again there were a lot of power plays in the game. Trois-Rivieres had eight, the Railers five. … Worcester had two power play goals to snap a four-game skid, during which it was 0 for 15. … Christian Krygier, Griffin Loughran, Brenden Rons, Colin Jacobs and Matt DeMelis were the Railers who did not play.

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