By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – As was first reported some time around 1885, goaltending is everything in hockey.

The Railers have been on both sides of that equation this season. Friday night they were on the wrong one in a 2-0 loss to the Trois-Rivieres Lions.

The teams play again at 6:05 Saturday Night for the annual Pink in the Rink Game.

Both goaltenders were excellent with Parker Gahagen taking the loss for Worcester, Hunter Jones earning the victory. The Railers and Lions are next to each other in the North Division standings and are similar in how dependent they are on goaltending.

Gahagen has helped keep Worcester in the playoff race. Jones is just down from the AHL Laval Rockets. The Lions are 11-5-0 when Jones starts and he has recorded three shutouts. Trois-Rivieres is 8-15-4 when the rest of civilization starts in goal.

It was a 0-0 game for about 38 minutes.

Cedric Desruisseaux broke the tie at 17:43 of the second period. Morgan Adams-Moisan had an empty netter with 57 seconds left in the third. Gahagen played another great game as he stopped 32 of 33 shots.

Jones was not as busy, making 22 saves. His timing was perfect, though.

Even though the Lions had a 14-8 edge in shots on goal in the first period, Worcester had more great chances. It was one of the most frustrating periods of the season for the Railers.

A short list of their great opportunities would include five Grade A chances. It would include Matt DeMelis’ breakaway at 8:30, a pad save on Ryan Miotto from in close at 11:30, Anthony Repaci’s wraparound try at 14:50, Cole Donhauser in close at 17:16 set up by DeMelis, and Gabe Blanchard’s blast from the left circle that missed the net at 19:50.

The second period included more missed chances early. Lincoln Hatten could not convert from in close at 10:00. Miotto rang the left post at 13:30

Gahagen kept it scoreless for most of the second period. That included a stop on a partial breakaway by Mark Estapa a little past 14:00. Estapa came out of the penalty box and was impeded on the way in and was stopped. If he had scored would it have counted?

It looked like Estapa had not competely cleared the box when he got the puck, not that it mattered as things turned out.

Desruisseaux got what proved to be the game winner on a pass from Adams-Moisan. He dug the puck out of the left corner and fed Desruisseaux as he stormed down the slot. He chipped an eight-footer past Gahagen.

Trois-Rivieres did an excellent  job of protecting its lead throughout the third period and outshot Worcester, 11-6.

The defeat snapped Worcester’s seven-game point streak. The Railers are 0-1-2 in their last three games.

MAKING TRACKS – Veremyev and Cam Berg were returned by Bridgeport while Hunter Hall was released. Both Veremeyev and Berg were in uniform. … Worcester had seven skaters who were not in the lineup. They included Anthony Hora, Michael Ferrandino, Ross Mitton, Khristian Acosta, Connor Federkow and MacAuley Carson. … Attendance was 2,700. … The referee was Julien Lapoint doing his first Railers game ever. … The Worcester Youth Orchestra performed one of the season’s best Star Spangled Banners. … The DCU Center played host to the Women in Sports event. It included an appearance by Natalie Noury, a frequent guest to the city in her role as a sideline reporter on Worcester Red Sox telecasts.

#RailersHC