By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – Days like this have been rarer than eclipses of the sun for the Railers this season.

They snapped a three-game losing streak in front of a large, raucous crowd at the DCU Center Sunday with a 4-3 victory over the Adirondack Thunder. The good news does not end there. The two teams directly ahead of them in the fight for fourth place in the North Division, Reading and Trois-Rivieres, both lost.

So, everything that could have gone right for Worcester did and that has not happened very often this winter, especially in recent weeks.

Beyond that, the 6,030 fans saw one of the best games of the season, with the outcome in doubt until the final seconds.

The triumph allowed the Railers to close to within eight points of fourth place Reading and within one point of the fifth-place Trois-Rivieres Lions.

Worcester fell behind early, 2-1, then scored the game’s next three goals to build a 4-2 lead. The Thunder closed to within a goal with 8:44 to go and the final minutes were bedlam with four penalties totaling 11 minutes and four power plays being called.

Anthony Callin, Ryan Miotto, Anthony Repaci and Riley Piercey had the Worcester goals. Thomas Gale picked up the win in net with a 26-save afternoon. Jeremy Brodeur was the losing goaltender.

It may, or may not, be a coincidence that events began to turn in the Railers’ direction when Railers forward Max Dorrington fought Adirondack defenseman Jackson van de Leest in front of the Thunder net at 14:48 of the first period.

It was a real heavyweight bout, one of the season’s best.

The two fighters were a combined 12 feet, 10 inches tall. Together they weighed 450 pounds with Dorrington giving up a little in both height and weight. He did not give up anything in terms of the battle, however, and wound up on the positive side of the scorecard.

“I thought our physicality was right,” coach Nick Tuzzolino said. “We didn’t get down like we had in a lot of the other games, go on our own page once we start to lose the lead…I think tonight they just stuck with it no matter what happened.

“It was a physical start and I think that Max getting into that fight kind of settled stuff down.”

Brandon McManus gave the visitors a 1-0 lead a mere 2:47 after the opening faceoff but Callin responded at 3:41 from in close. Dylan Wendt got the lead back for Adirondack at 14:21 and it was 2-1 going into the second period.

Miotto tied it at the 2:21 mark of the second period as he and Lincoln Hatten worked a textbook 2 on 1. Repaci got the Railers a 3-2 lead with just 16 seconds left in the period; he was credited with the goal when the puck went in off an Adirondack defenseman who was just outside the crease.

Piercey scored on a neat deflection at 3:52 of the third period. It turned out to be the winner as Patrick Grasso scored on a high deflection at 11:16.

Repaci was 1-1-2 and plus-2 to lead the Railers offense. Cam McDonald was plus-2, also. The teams combined for 12 power plays with Adirondack having eight of those. While he was pointless, Cole Donhauser had a terrific game killing those Thunder penalties.

MAKING TRACKS – Miotto’s goal snapped a 16-game drought during which he did not score. … Adirondack’s Brian Carrabes was called for a rare slew-footing penalty in the third period which gave the Railers a five-minute power play, which was then broken up by several minor penalty calls. … It was Brodeur’s 22nd career game versus Worcester, the most of any ECHL goaltender. He is 10-10-1 all-time against the Railers, 3-3-1 this season. … Attendance was 6,030. It was the fifth largest crowd of the season. Worcester is 4-1-0 in those games. The Railers drew 11,750 for their two weekend home games.

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