Worcester – The Worcester Railers ended the team’s fifth three-in-three weekend of the season with a 4-2 final loss to the South Carolina Stingrays on Sunday afternoon.
The loss sparked a spectacular comeback by Bridgeport forward Jimmy Lambert. He set up the first Worcester goal to make it a 2–1 game, then completed a sensational individual effort to make it 2–2 just 32 seconds into the third period.
However, Kevin O’Neal answered with a goal for South Carolina at 3:38 to put the Stingrays back in the lead and Tarek Baker hit an empty net at 19:11 to tie it down.
Brent Moran stopped 32 of 35 shots for Worcester. South Carolina goalie Clay Stevenson made 27 saves and he was really good in two appearances over the weekend.
Stevenson looks a lot like former IceCats goaltender Frederik Kasiwi, who had an illustrious pro career. Stevenson, a rookie, is off to a great start. He was 3-0-0 with the AHL Hershey Bears and is 12-3-4 for South Carolina.
Anthony Repassi had the other Railers goal. Bear Hughes and Andrew Chernichan had the other goals for the Stingrays.
Hughes scored the first goal of the game, putting the visitors ahead 1–0 at 4:57 of the first period. He shot Moran in the wrist on the blocker’s side from about 25 feet out.
Chernivchan, who played against the Sharks here in 2014-15 when he was with the Providence Bruins, scored a power play goal at 11:15 of the second period to give South Carolina a 2-0 lead. Ryan Scarfo found Chernichan alone in the left circle and Moran had no chance to get there in time to make the save.
The Railers cut their deficit in half at 16:42 on a goal by Repsi. Lambert made a great play to set it up as he circled around the offensive zone, drawing defenders in his direction, then found Repassi alone outside the left post.
Lambert’s dynamic solo rush to open the third period woke up the crowd and gave the Railers some momentum but was stopped by Stevenson and his teammates took advantage of his excellence to get the final two goals of the game.
Making Tracks – The Railers’ next three games are against the Reading Royals, two of which are at the DCU Centre. Worcester plays Reading on Tuesday mornings, then the Royals come into town for games on Friday and Saturday nights. … Jack Quinlivan, Philippe Beaulieu, Jared Brandt and Ken Appleby are on injured reserve. Liam Coughlin, Noah Delmas, Nolan Vesey and Colin Adams were the other Railers who did not wear a costume for the game. Conversely, Jack Bross returned to the lineup.
