From the start of the game, it was clear that the IceCats were not in the mood for a repeat of Wednesday's 4-2 road loss to the Pirates. Just three minutes into regulation, NHL veteran and recent IceCat addition, right wing Paul Broten blasted a wrist shot past Portland goalie Mike Torchia, giving Worcester an early 1-0 lead. Shortly thereafter, Worcester toughguy Kevin Sawyer (8 games, 60 penalty minutes) decided it was time to swap recipes with Portland thug Frank Bialowas, resulting in a game misconduct for Bialowas, and enough penalty minutes awarded to Sawyer to send him to the locker room 14 minutes early. But the IceCats, who are 6-3-0 when they score first, weren't done with Torchia yet, and while still in the first half of the period, left wing Jarrett Deuling beat the Pirate netminder again, assisted by defensemen Terry Virtue and Christer Olsson. Just a few minutes later, however, Portland center Jeff Nelson lifted a backhander past Fichaud, keeping the Pirates in the game. After another fight between IceCat Jed Fiebelkorn and Portland's Joel Poirier and several minor penalties on the Pirates, the period ended, with the Cats outshooting the Pirates 16-7 and winning with a score of 2-1.
When Worcester hit the ice in the second period, it appeared they were determined to keep the momentum in their favor, and less than a minute in, IceCat right wing Patrice Tardif wristed a wide angle shot that deflected into the goal off of Torchia, assisted by defenseman Jamie Rivers and center Craig Darby. Two and a half minutes later, Paul Broten scored his second goal of the night on a power play, assisted by Virtue and Tardif, to give the IceCats a 4-1 lead. Demoralized, Torchia was pulled from the net and replaced with Portland's Ron Tugnutt (the one and only!) to try to hold the IceCats back. The score held at 4-1 (despite some nasty fights and plenty of penalties all around) until 19:12 of the period when Pirate right wing Martin Gendron, on loan from Washington, converted on a Portland power play, bringing the score after two periods to 4-2 in favor of the IceCats.
In the third period, it looked as if Portland might actually pose a threat when left wing Andrew Brunette scored another power play goal, bringing the Pirates within one. A few minutes later, however, Worcester solidified its lead again when Tardif scored his second goal of the night on a great offensive rush through traffic, assisted by Rivers and defenseman Steve Staios. Not to be outdone, Jarrett Deuling followed with his second goal of the night off of a power play blast from the point, assisted by Rivers (again) and right wing Chris Kenady. Another game misconduct was awarded to Portland right wing Rob Pearson for an obstruction through "begging to differ" with the IceCat's Tardif, but Worcester was unable to capitalize on the power play. Late in the period, Gendron scored his second goal of the game (I'm sensing a theme, here) but it was too little, too late for the Pirates. Although outshot 28 to 33, Worcester skated away with the victory with a final score of 6-4.
Tardif, Broten, and Rivers were awarded the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd stars of the game, respectively, and the win brought the IceCat's overall record to 7-6-0, good for 14 points and third place position in their division. The Pirates still edge Worcester in the standings by one point, but have played five more games than the IceCats, who have a significantly better win percentage (.538). The Cats play again on Monday night (which means I didn't have time to write the results up in time for this issue - sorry) against the Prince Edward's Island Senators, before leaving on a road trip starting on Friday, Nov. 17th in Providence and ending on the 25th at P.E.I.
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