The Norfolk Admirals welcomed the Worcester Railers to Norfolk Scope on Wednesday night (Oct. 30) for the first of three games this week. The Admirals skated away with a 3-1 win, which saw them control most of the game. They outshot the Railers 23-15. The Admirals’ special team units were tremendous, as the powerplay was 1-for-2, and the penalty killers were 2-for-2.
Dante Giannuzzi secured his first win in front of the home fans and second win of the season, making 14 saves in the effort.
Henrik Tikkanen was solid despite the loss. He stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced, including multiple grade-A chances.
Three Stars
First Star – Denis Smirnov (GWG)
Second Star – Josh McDougall (1g)
Third Star – Tikkanen (20 saves)
Recap
The first period had a very high-paced feel to it as the stoppages were minimal. Facing a 6’8 goaltender in Tikkanen, the Admirals needed to pepper him with shots to test him early, and they did that. Through the entirety of the period, they had the Railers hemmed in their own zone for long stretches.
The Admirals held a 14-5 shot advantage at the end of a scoreless first period.
The Railers had the first powerplay chance of the game as Keegan Iverson was whistled for Hooking at 1:30 of the second period. The Admirals did a stellar job of killing it off as they did not give the Railers many chances. Just 58 seconds later, the Railers went back on the powerplay on a very soft call as Connor Fedorek was called for Roughing at 4:28. Admirals again killed it off and were able to go back to work.
At 11:03, the Admirals got their first powerplay chance as Matthew Kopperud was sent off for Slashing. Already, with momentum on their side, the Admirals did well moving the puck around and creating chances. They finally broke through with the powerplay goal at 12:45 of the second period. A pass attempt to the front of the net by Justin Young was deflected and bounced right to the middle of the ice. Josh McDougall found the loose inching up to the point and stepped into it to riffle a slap shot from the top of the circle that beat Tikkanen to the glove side. Young and Kamerin Nault picked up the assists.
At 15:10 of the second period, Tikkanen came up with a huge save to keep the game 1-0. On a 2-on-1, Smirnov had the puck on the right-wing side of the ice. He made a backhand saucer pass over the left-wing side for McDougall, who quickly got a one-time shot off but was denied by the pad of Tikkanen.
The second came to an end with the Admirals up 1-0 heading into intermission. They outshot the Railers by a slim 6-5 margin in the period.
The third period was defensive-heavy from both teams through the first nine minutes, but the Railers found a way to break through and tie the game up. At 9:24 of the final frame, Worcester had a 2-on-1 chance that was mishandled. Luckily for them, Riley Piercey was trailing the play to help out. After whiffing on the first chance, Kopperud regained possession of the puck and found Piercy to the left-side of the net to move the puck over for an easy tip-in goal. Connor Welsh picked up the secondary assist as he started the break. It did not take long for the Admirals to respond, however, as they tallied on the go-ahead goal just 2:14 later. A failed clearance attempt by the Railers allowed Fedorek to keep the puck in and fake a shot that he would ultimately move down to Stepan Timofeyev. He found Smirnov driving down the middle of the ice and dished him a perfect pass to one-time it to the back of the net past the glove of Tikkanen.
The Admirals shut it down from there as Brandon Osmundson tacked on an empty-net goal at 18:48 to make it a 3-1 game and seal the deal on the win. Brady Fleurent and Darick Louis-Jean were credited with the assists.
Railers kept the Admirals to just three shots in the period as they held a 5-3 shot total for the period.
Both teams will meet for game two of the three-game set on Friday, Nov. 1. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Norfolk Scope.
