By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – The IceCats have been gone from these parts for more than 20 years but they keep winning anyway.

They kept their Railers victory streak alive Saturday night in the most compelling fashion possible, as the home team won one of the most dramatic victories in team history as they wore Cats uniforms.

Down, 2-0, to the powerful Florida Everblades with a little more than five minutes to go in the third period, Worcester came back to make it 2-2 and send things into overtime. For the fourth time this season, the Railers came away with the OT victory.

Max Dorrington scored the winner at 4:23 with Worcester on a power play. He tipped home a shot by Jesse Pulkkinen, who scored the Railers first goal of the game. It was the first professional goal of his North America career.

With the crowd of 8,025 roaring for most of the night, and with Worcester’s Parker Gahagen and Florida’s Cam Johnson both playing superbly in net, the building had a playoff atmosphere.

The Railers have never lost a game in front of a home crowd larger than 8,000. They are 8-0-0 in those games.

Pulkkinen got Worcester’s first goal at 14:36 of the third period on a sizzling slap shot from 55 feet. Ryan Miotto made it 2-2 at 17:00 as he tipped a shot by Michael Suda.

After Friday night’s defeat, Worcester coach Nick Tuzzolino compared coming back from a two-goal deficit to climbing two mountains. His team could not do it Friday. Saturday night the Railers scaled Wachusett and Monadnock.

“I think we had a little bit better mindset,” Tuzzolino said, “more positivity on our bench, myself included, trying to keep to our game plan.”

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak during which Worcester was always playing from behind. Getting the game into overtime was just what the Railers wanted to do given how well they have played in the fourth period.

Saturday’s triumph improved their overtime record to 4-1 this season. Worcester is 8-2 in its last 10 overtime games going back to last season.

There was no denying the energy in the DCU Center and both teams responded.

“If we’re ever gonna talk about being a post-season team,” Tuzzolino said, “and playing post-season hockey, that’s what we’ve got to get out of this. They’re a great team.”

Craig Needham and Reid Duke scored for Florida. Needham scored at 4:52 of the second period, one second after an Everblades power play ended. Duke made it 2-0 at 2:41 of the third.

The triumph was Worcester’s second-ever over Florida. The Railers are 2-6-0 all-time versus the Everblades. It was just the second time they have beaten Johnson in six games. One victory is in overtime, one in a shootout.

As was the case Friday the first period was scoreless, although Worcester had a 10-7 edge in shots on goal. The home team took a while to get going and created its best scoring chances in the final minutes.

Riley Piercey had a re-direct from just outside of the crease that Johnson turned aside at 18:11. Shortly after that Worcester had several fine chances that did not go in, but as the buzzer approached Anthony Callin had a good look from the left and some net to shoot at but missed to the far side.

It took the Railers a while to stop missing, and that set up a great finish.

MAKING TRACKS – The top two scorers in Worcester hockey history were part of the ceremonial first faceoff. They were Terry Virtue of the IceCats and Anthony Repaci of the Railers. Original IceCat Shawn Heaphy also helped with the draw. … Florida’s Quinton Burns assisted on his team’s first goal, making it five straight helpers for him. … The Railers were not called for a minor penalty on Friday night for the first time in team history. It happened a few times to the IceCats and Sharks. Worcester killed four penalties Saturday night. … The only change in the Worcester lineup from Friday night was Tanner Schachle at forward replacing Riley Ginnell. … Doing some rudimentary math, the average age of the Railers roster this season is 24. The Everblades’ average age is 26. … There were three Sacred Heart products on the ice, all with a Worcester connection. That list included Connor Doherty of the Everblades and Railers rookies Dorrington and Gabe Blanchard. … The teams finish the weekend marathon with a game at 3:05 Sunday afternoon. … Suda is 1-13-14 in his last 13 games.

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