Springfield 3 - Worcester 0

The Worcester Sharks can’t catch a break these days. They hosted another division rival for the second straight night at the DCU Center but had the same outcome. The Sharks inefficiency on the man advantage as of late and their very poor penalty killing has them almost at the bottom of the Atlantic Division. They also ran into a brick wall tonight with Jonathan Boutin in net for the Springfield Falcons. Boutin stopped many quality shots that kept the Sharks off the board and finished the night stopping all 32 shots on goal. He also has a new best friend as Justin Kurtz's shot rang off the post midway through the second period.

Rookie Justin Keller would get the Falcons on the scoreboard midway through the first frame as he slipped a shot into a wide-open net. The Falcons power play tally would come as two of Worcester’s veterans, Scott Ferguson and Justin Kurtz, were in the penalty box. Former Worcester player Daniel Corso and Eric Healey picked up helpers on Keller’s 8th goal of the season.

Worcester would try to make a late comeback as they out shot the Falcons in the last two stanzas, shooting 12 shots on goals in each, but were denied by Boutin. Jonathan Boutin picked up his first shutout of the season, second overall for the birds. Springfield’s Captain, Norm Milley, wouldn’t take long in the second to make it a two-goal game. He scored 30 seconds into the 2nd period while another Worcester veteran, Mathieu Biron, was sitting in the sin bin.

Worcester’s Glenn Olson and Springfield’s Mitch Fritz would drop the gloves a couple minutes later. Olson managed to get a good punch in, but the fight would be a draw. Fritz would also receive another 4 minutes for roughing, however the Sharks power play could hardly get off many shots. The Sharks went 0 for 4 tonight with the man advantage and are 0 for 11 in their last 2 games. After the penalties were served, Mitch was benched for the rest of the game. The score would hold up until Marek Kvapil scored on an empty net with 15 seconds remaining. Eric Healey would pick up his second assist of the game on the play.

NOTES:
Attendance was 3,923

Booster Club member Darryl Hunt has signed up to sing the national anthem. Tonight R&B star Patrice Peris tried the gig but forgot some of the words and just added some.

Tonight was the teddy bear toss to support Project Smile. However, fans weren’t able to throw their bears on the ice because the team never scored. This happened the last time it was done in Worcester and the previous 2 seasons in Cleveland.