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RAILERS

Railers: Worcester snaps skid with matinee, shootout victory

Bill Doyle
william.doyle@telegram.com
Railers winger Tyler Barnes (7) puts a shot on Reading goalie Angus Redmond, who makes the save during Wednesday's game at the DCU Center. [T&G Staff/Christine Peterson]

WORCESTER — The Worcester Railers’ long losing streak is over. No kidding.

With 4,500 city schoolchildren on hand in a crowd of 6,043 for a 10 a.m. start at the DCU Center on Wednesday, the Railers ended their seven-game skid by beating the Reading Royals, 3-2, in a shootout.

Unfortunately, by the time Ivan Kosorenkov scored the only goal in the shootout to give Worcester its first victory since Oct. 26, most of the children had taken their buses back to school.

Kosorenkov scored his second goal of the season with 4:09 left in regulation to give the Railers a 2-1 lead, but Reading pulled goaltender Angus Redmond in favor of an extra skater, and Steven Swavely scored his second goal of the game with 54 seconds remaining to tie it, 2-2.

“Nobody says it,” Railers coach Jamie Russell said, “but everybody’s thinking, ‘Oh boy, here we go again.’ But I thought we really deserved that (victory) after everything we’ve gone through.”

After a scoreless 5-minute overtime, Kosorenkov was the first to shoot in the shootout, and the 20-year-old Russian beat Redmond after making a nifty move.

Asked what he tried to do on his goal, Kosorenkov said, “I don’t want to tell you secrets about it. I just let the goalie do some movements from the side to the middle, and I just decided what I had to do, and I just did it.”

“His shootout goal was silky, as pretty as you can get,” Russell said. “He’s really demonstrated to us as a coaching staff that he is coachable. He’s a young kid, only 20 years old, right out of junior hockey, so he’s dealing with culture change. English isn’t his first language, but he’s done a really good job of applying the things that are going to make him a successful pro.”

Reading’s first shooter in the shootout, Mike Huntebrinker, appeared to have Worcester goaltender Evan Buitenhuis out of position, but Buitenhuis reached back with his stick to block the shot.

“Incredible save,” Russell said. “I thought their guy made a heck of a move, and I thought he had Evan beat, but Evan reaches back and makes a highlight-reel save.”

Reading’s other two shooters fired wide of the net, and the Royals lost their fourth in a row. Worcester improved to 4-8-1-0.

“There’s been a ton of frustration,” Russell said. “I give our guys a ton of credit, I give our leaders a ton of credit, with Mike Cornell and Josh Holmstrom and Barry Almeida. It’s been hard to stay positive, and those guys have done a really good job.”

Kosorenkov scored late in regulation after a Reading pass deflected off the skate of another Reading player. The puck bounced to Kosorenkov in front of the net, and he beat Redmond to his stick side.

“He got a turnover,” Russell said, “and he’s a guy who can score goals. He can finish.”

Woody Hudson raised his arms thinking he had poked the puck into the net to give Worcester a 2-1 lead with 5:46 left in the second period, but the referee waved no goal, and the call stood after a video review.

Tyler Barnes pulled the Railers even, 1-1, with a power-play goal at 11:36 of the second period. It was Worcester’s first power-play goal at home this season and only the fourth overall. Cornell took a pass from Tyler Mueller along the blue line and flipped the puck toward the net. Barnes deflected it into the net for his third goal of the season.

Swavely picked up a loose puck near the left circle, turned toward the net and flipped a shot through a crowd and into the net for an unassisted goal to give Reading a 1-0 lead at 13:33 of the first period.

Forwards Matty Gaudreau and Ryan Hitchcock made their Railers debuts after being sent down from Bridgeport. Gaudreau began the season on injured reserve with Bridgeport, and Hitchcock recorded an assist in nine games in his rookie season with the Sound Tigers. Gaudreau starred at Boston College, Hitchcock at Yale.

The Railers hosts Adirondack at 8 p.m. Thursday in the second of four home games in five days. Thursday’s game will begin an hour later than usual because it will be college night and the college students requested a later start. Worcester is 0-3 versus Adirondack.

—Contact Bill Doyle at william.doyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.