LEWISTON — If Dan DaSilva and Travis Oleklsuk of the Worcester Sharks had to face the Portland Pirates every time they played a game, you likely wouldn’t hear much complaining.
Oleksuk had a goal and four assists and DaSilva added three goals and an assist to help lift the visiting Sharks to a 6-3 win over the Pirates in front of 1,632 Tuesday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
“It’s good to have your points against a team you play 12 times,” Worcester coach Roy Sommer said with a smile.
In eight meetings between the teams this season, Oleksuk and DaSilva have combined for six goals and 10 assists, and since Yanni Gourde joined them on a line, the team is 5-0-1.
“They’ve been good the last five, six games for us,” Sommer said. “That line’s been a big part of it. They’ve scored big goals, they’re fast, they move the puck. We need something going, because we’re not a high-scoring team.”
The Pirates, meanwhile, dropped their second consecutive contest in regulation at home after having gone seven home games with at least a point through the month of December.
“Let’s start with the first period, we didn’t show up on time,” Pirates coach Ray Edwards said. “The second period was better … and the third period was obviously unacceptable. Overall, it was an unacceptable performance, we were embarrassed. I feel bad for the fans that did show up to have to see that, because that was not what we’re about, that’s not the type of team we are.”
Louis Domingue was under siege from the beginning. Other than a brief reprieve to begin the second period, the Pirates’ keeper saw plenty of shots from different angles all night, and allowed the most goals in his brief AHL career.
“We gave him absolutely no help,” Edwards said. “We allowed first shots, second shots, third shots. It was not a pretty performance by our standard.”
With the Pirates apparently in the driver’s seat — ahead 3-2 in the waning seconds of the second period — the Sharks seized momentum with a late goal.
In back-breaking fashion, Matt Tennyson’s blast from the center point ticked off Oleksuk’s stick and past Domingue’s glove hand. Only 3.7 seconds remained on the clock.
“Poor battle level for us down low,” Edwards said. “Poor awareness of time on the clock, just poor judgements. It wasn’t good.”
“Those make you go in the locker room and think a little bit,” Sommer said. “
In the third, the Sharks poured it on. DaSilva scored his second of the game at 2:54 to put Worcester ahead 4-3. He added his third at 6:38, and Sena Acolatse finished the scoring with his third of the year at 16:08 of the final frame.
“We came out after that and played a pretty good third,” Sommer said.
The Sharks opened the scoring in a choppy opening frame at 11:17 when DaSilva converted on a feed from Travis Oleksuk in the low slot to put the visitors on top by one.
The Pirates appeared to awaken in the latter stages of the first, and despite being outshot 16-6, forced a 1-1 draw by the end of the frame when Lucas Lessio extended about as far as he could to snag a pass from Brandon Gormley, deked Sateri to the ice and slid the puck into the cage.
Portland’s legs appeared refreshed in the second. The Pirates skated with authority, kept the Sharks back on their heels and went ahead at 7:08 when Brandon Yip tipped home a Daine Todd shot from the right point.
That goal capped a run of 11 consecutive shots on goal from the Pirates.
But Worcester replied on its next — and first — shot of the frame, with Tennyson ramming home a rebound from the right circle on a shot from Oleksuk.
On a power play, the Pirates regained the advantage. Brandon Gormley crept in from the left point and parked at the top of the crease, pouncing on a rebound on a shot from Yip. Lessio picked up his third point of the night with the second assist.
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