Railers drop third straight in 5-2 home loss to Growlers

Newfoundland Growlers at Worcester Railers HC

November 3, 2018

DCU Center

Meeting 1 of 8 vs. Newfoundland this season

Railers are 0-1-0-0 vs. the Growlers this season

Railers drop third straight in 5-2 home loss to Growlers

Ivan Kosorenkov scores first pro goal for Worcester in loss

Worcester, MA – The Worcester Railers HC(3-5-0-0, 6pts) dropped their third straight game with a 5-2 loss to the visiting Newfoundland Growlers (7-5-0-0, 14pts) in front of 4,877 fans at the DCU Center on Saturday evening. The Railers travel to St. John’s, NFLD to battle the Growlers for a pair of games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Growlers charged out to a 4-0 lead before Ivan Kosorenkov and Tyler Barnes scored in the third period for Worcester but it wasn’t enough as the Railers dropped their second straight game at the DCU Center.  Matt Bradley scored twice for Newfoundland and Mario Culina made 33 saves in his first professional start as Newfoundland ended their eight-game road trip 5-3-0-0.

Newfoundland charged out to a 2-0 first period lead after a power play goal by Stefan LeBlanc (1st) at 10:29 and an even strength goal by Brady Ferguson (6th) at 14:31.  Shots were 10-8 in favor of the Growlers through 20 minutes of play.

The Growlers would tack on two more goals in the second period as Giorgio Estephan (8th) struck on the power play with a wicked shot from the right circle at 7:56 and Matt Bradley (3rd) struck at 15:25 to put the Railers down 4-0. Shots were 20-19 in favor of Newfoundland through 40 minutes of play.

Worcester would score twice in a 27 second span late in the third period to cut the score to 4-2 as Ivan Kosorenkov (1st) scored his first professional goal at 15:59 and Tyler Barnes (2nd) scored after the first officials video replay at the DCU Center at 16:26.  The excitement was short lived as Matt Bradley (4th) potted one into an empty net at 17:29 as the Growlers pulled away for a 5-2 rod victory.

Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star: Mario Culina (33 saves, Win) 2nd star: Stefan LeBlanc (1-1-2) 1st star: Giorgio Estephan (1-2-3)….Final shots were 35-33 in favor of Worcester… Mario Culina (1-0-0-0) made 33 saves on 35 shots for Newfoundland in his first pro start….Evan Buitenhuis (1-2-0-0) made 28 saves on 32 shots for Worcester with Ryan Hubbard served as the emergency backup..….Worcester went 0-for-5 on the power play while Newfoundland went 2-for-8…. Tommy Kelley (inj), Yanick Turcotte (inj), David Quenneville (inj), Bryan Arneson and Kyle McKenzie (susp) did not dress for Worcester…. Jeff Kubiak and Mitch Gillam are currently on recall with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers… the Railers fall to 16-5-1 in their last 22 regular season home games at the DCU Center…. Connor Doherty added an assist and now has a three-game point streak (0-3-3)…Mike Cornell and Tyler Mueller also added assists….Josh Holmstrom fired a game high seven shots on goal….the Worcester Fire Department defeated the Worcester Police Department 7-3 in the Guns N Hoses games before the game….Ray Bourque dropped the puck before the game.

What’s on tap? – On the Road

The Railers head to St. John’s, NFLD for a pair of games north of the border on Tuesday and Wednesday nights with 5:30pm start times.  Worcester returns home on Friday on COUNTRY NIGHT presented by Nash ICON.  The first 1,000 fans will receive a Railers bandana presented by Nash ICON and Jack’s Abby along with a live performance by country artist Mychael David.

The Railers Tavern, located behind the DCU Center provides hockey fans with a great pregame and postgame atmosphere all season long. Watch all road games broadcast live at Nonna’s (FRI, SAT, SUN) or Railers Tavern (MON-THU) or watch on ECHLTV.com for a small fee. Listen to all Railers games live on 98.9 Nash ICON with coverage beginning 30 minutes before puck drop with Eric Lindquist and Tom Matthews. Full season memberships, mini plans, and group tickets are on sale now by calling the Railers front office at 508-365-1750or by visiting www.RailersHC.com.

Railers 2.0….Don’t. Miss. Out!