Offense, penalties and fights were prominent in Worcester as the Maine Mariners picked up a wild victory in their last game before the holiday break.
The Worcester Railers were hoping to end the second-longest homestand in team history on a positive note Sunday afternoon heading into the holiday break.
In the end, the Maine Mariners played spoiler, coming away with an 8-5 win at DCU Center. The game featured a little bit of everything: goals (13), penalty minutes (66) and plenty of fights.
Owen Pederson and Matthew Philip each registered two goals, with a total of nine Mariners picking up multi-point games in the victory.
The first 14 minutes of the game were scoreless. The Mariners broke the ice just as their first power-play opportunity ended. Chase Zieky deflected a Michael Underwood shot from the point past Railers goaltender Michael Bullion at the 14:08 mark. It was the first points of the season for both Zieky and Underwood.
The Railers tied the game 1-1 just over four minutes later. Defenseman Matias Rajaniemi broke through traffic from the left point to beat Mariners netminder Brad Arvanitis.
The second period was definitely worth the price of admission, with numerous penalties and six goals between the two clubs.
Several infractions by the Railers set the Mariners up with consecutive 5-on-3 chances, and they took full advantage.
Pederson tipped in a pass from Brooklyn Kalmikov at 4:57 to help Maine regain the lead 2-1.
A little over a minute later, Kalmikov tallied his own goal to make the score 3-1, firing home a rebound that bounced off Bullion’s pad.
When the power play went to 5-on-4, Nick Jermain notched his first goal of the season, deflecting a Justin Bean shot for a 4-1 Mariners lead at the 6:53 mark of the middle frame.
The Railers tried to fight back, as Anthony Callin scored the first of his two goals in the period, putting in a tight backhand shot at the 7:24 mark to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Evan Vierling, who leads the Mariners in points, scored his sixth goal of the season for 22 points, taking a breakaway pass from Christian Sarlo at 10:16 for a 5-2 Maine lead.
Callin cut the lead to 5-3 with a power-play goal at 11:57, with the rest of the period remaining scoreless.
Just 51 seconds into the third period, Jordan Kaplan narrowed Worcester’s deficit to 5-4 after spinning a backhander past Arvanitis near the right circle.
The Mariners weren’t about to see their lead slip away, however. Pederson tallied his second of the day at the 5:33 mark, then Philip tickled the twine at 7:22 after being set up by Xander Lamppa.
The Railers’ last gasp came at 17:03 when Riley Ginnell scored. Philip’s empty-netter sealed the 8-5 victory for the Mariners at 19:19, improving their record to 10-12-2. Worcester falls to 10-15-3.
Along with the combined 13 goals, there were 79 total shots on goal, 20 minutes’ worth of fighting majors, 18 minutes of roughing calls, 20 minutes of misconduct infractions, two slashing calls, one high stick and one tripping penalty. The Railers’ Griffin Luce was slapped with 20 minutes’ worth of misconducts alone, including a game misconduct.
During one of Worcester’s 5-on-3 penalty-kill opportunities, head coach Nick Tuzzolino tried to fool the officials by sending a fourth man onto the ice, to no avail.
Arvanitis picked up his first win of the season for Maine, stopping 32 shots.
Bullion made 34 saves for the Railers, who finished a disappointing eight-game homestand 2-4-2 as they head into the holiday break.