WORCESTER GRABS POINT IN 3-2 SHOOTOUT LOSS

By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – It has been one of those weekends that seem like a month for the Railers. They have battled one of the ECHL’s best teams in the Trois-Rivieres Lions and changed a coach all at the same time.

Worcester lost its final game under Bob Deraney, 5-3, Friday night. They lost their first game under Nick Tuzzolino, 3-2, Saturday night but it was one of those half-a-loaf deals. The Railers earned a point with a shootout loss.

It says something about the Lions that Worcester played one of its best games in recent weeks and still could not get two points. Trois-Rivieres is loaded with offensive opportunists and flawless goaltending.

The Railers out shot the visitors, 41-26, but still could not outscore them.

It was, however, an encouraging start to Tuzzolino’s head coaching career and in general he liked what he saw.

“I don’t want to say that I was excited about how we played,” he said, “because the result wasn’t there, but we made a few minor adjustments in clogging up the neutral zone and our forecheck, and I thought they were really good.”

The goal scorers were Justin Kaplan and Matthew Kopperud for Worcester while the Lions got two goals from Cormier. The first was from Xavier Cormier, the second from Tommy Cormier. Alex Beaucage had the only shootout goal.

It was a good goaltending night both ways. Zachary Emond made 39 saves for the Lions. Michael Bullion, who had been in a slump, stopped 23 and made the save of the night early in the third period.

He stopped Logan Nijhoff on a penalty shot at 2:31. The period was Bullion’s best as he also made some big saves late to keep the score at 2-2.

Xavier Cormier put Trois-Rivieres ahead at 4:29 of the first period. It was a tap-in goal with the Lions on a power play. Kaplan tied it at 8:45, also on a power play. He beat Emond with a rebound backhander.

Kopperud scored from the right circle at 14:26 to give Worcester a 2-1 lead, then Tommy Cormier converted a long breakaway at 18:01.

“If we can carbon-copy what we did tonight,” Tuzzolino said, “I don’t see us losing more than a couple games here and there. It’s one of those things where that type of system can plug in play some players and drive some teams wild up front.

“I guess my overall goal is to work on the consistency of that this week because we’ll have a good stretch and really have all things firing for Maine. It’s a very big weekend for us.”

MAKING TRACKS – Worcester has already played eight overtime games this season, four of them against Trois-Rivieres. … The penalty shot was the first in the DCU Center since Dec. 17, 2022 when Reece Newkirk scored for the Railers versus Newfoundland. Bullion’s stop made Worcester goalies 4 for 9 in saves through the years. … Kaplan has 18 points in the last 19 games. … The Railers still have eight games left with the Lions but do not play them again until March 7 in Quebec. … Christian Krygier, Griffin Loughran, Brenden Rons, Colin Jacobs and Matt DeMelis all did not play. … Helmets off to Ben Picard for one of the most rousing national anthems of the year. He sang it like the victory song it is. … The home team’s special uniforms were certainly special and decorative. If the ECHL expands to Hawaii, those jerseys would work well. … Worcester has the next six days to rest and get some practice time in under its new coach. The Railers’ next two games are at the DCU Center. They play host to Maine next Saturday night and next Sunday afternoon. … The shootout loss makes Worcester pro coaches a combined 4-4-2 in their debut games. … The Railers have had 40 or more shots in five games this season and have taken six of  a possible 10 points in those games.

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