Railers Mount Comeback To Shock Trois-Rivieres On The Road

After dropping the opening game of the series against the Trois-Rivieres Lions Friday night, the Worcester Railers came back Saturday afternoon to edge the Lions 4-3 in the shootout in front of a crowd of 1,844 at the Colisée Videotron.

The first period was scoreless, and the Railers killed two penalties in the period. They outshot the Lions 9-6 through the first 20 minutes.

Both goaltenders were solid early, as Michael Bullion made six saves for Worcester while Hunter Jones turned aside nine for the lions.

Worcester grabbed the lead for the first time all weekend when Cole Donhauser tucked his own rebound past Jones for the game's first goal. Jordan Kaplan and Mason Klee each grabbed assists as they helped work the puck into the zone and towards the net.

The Lions responded with three straight goals. Anthony Beauregard was credited with the game-tying goal, his 22nd of the season. The shot bounced from the point off of a Railer stick and snuck past Bullion.

Five minutes later, the Lions rushed into the zone thanks to Chris Jandric's speed and found the stick of Nicolas Guay on the rush to send it home for his 10th of the season and make it 2-1 Lions. Beauregard tacked on one more for the Lions as the clock expired in the period. After review, it was determined that it was a good goal. The Lions took a 3-1 lead into the third after outshooting Worcester 18-13 in the second.

The two Matt's for Worcester, DeMelis (7th) and Kopperud (15th) each notched goals in the third. DeMelis scored 65 seconds into the period after ripping home a shot from the slot, while Matthew Kopperud pulled a quick trigger on a shot off the faceoff just four seconds into the power play. The game was 3-3 after 60 minutes of regulation.

The Lions went on the power play early in overtime off of an Anthony Callin high stick. Worcester killed it off thanks to six saves from Bullion in the extra period, then headed to their own power play midway through overtime.

Neither team succeeded in scoring in overtime as the game went to a shootout.

Connor Welsh continued his excellence in the shootout. Already the only defenseman in the ECHL with two shootout goals, he scored the only tally of the skills competition in the second half of the second round. Michael Bullion made the game-winning-save on Anthony Beauregard in the first half of the third round to deliver the 4-3 final and give the Railers two points on the afternoon.

Shots favored the Lions 39-34. Michael Bullion made 36 saves on 39 shots for Worcester and moved his season mark to 11-13-0-2. Hunter Jones made 30 saves on 33 shots for Trois-Rivières but suffered the loss, dropping his record to 12-2-4-1.

The two teams meet again at the Colisée Videotron on Sunday. Puck drop is set for 3 Pm EST.