With 20 games left in the regular season, the Maine Mariners need wins.
Clinging to fourth place in the ECHL’s North Division and with it the final playoff spot in the division, games like Wednesday’s 6-3 loss at Cross Insurance Arena to the Worcester Railers, the team coming up directly behind the Mariners in the division, do not help the Mariners’ cause.
The Mariners (24-22-4-2) entered Wednesday’s game with wins in five of their last six games. That came on the heels of a six-game losing streak, which followed a run of four wins in five games. The Mariners are streaky, running alternately hot and cold like a typical Maine March.
“I just didn’t think we came out with a lot of intensity. We tried to feel our way out of this one. Worcester, their backs against the wall and they came out and did what they do. I don’t think we were satisfied by the five out of six (wins). I just don’t think we had that same hunger we had in those other games,” Mariners Coach Ben Guite said.
The game also was the 13th of the season between Maine and Worcester (23-22-4-2). They split the first dozen, and are scheduled to play one more time, April 6 in Worcester.
The Mariners have yet to make the postseason in their short history. Maine did not qualify for the playoffs in their first and thus far only complete season, in 2018-19. The remainder of the 2019-20 season was canceled in March 2020 as the pandemic began. The Mariners did not compete in the 2020-21 season.
“It’s just the little things right now. We’re in the playoffs right now, you can look at it that way,” said Mariners captain Connor Doherty. “Nobody’s going to give you a game. We’ve got to go out and compete and outwork the other team.”
Down 1-0 after one period, the Mariners spotted Worcester a three-goal lead in the second. Seconds after Worcester’s Bobby Butler rang a shot off the pipe, Ross Olsson scored as a Railers power play came to an end for a 2-0 lead 2:48 into the second period. Maine answered at 4:14 with Marc-Olivier Duquette scoring to make it 2-1.
At 13:18, Worcester’s Nolan Vesey, a former University of Maine player, found a wide-open Brent Beaudoin in front of the net. Beaudoin ripped a shot above the right shoulder of Mariners goalie Stafanos Lekkas for a 3-1 lead. The Railers made it 4-1 when Jordan Smotherman was credited with a goal that went off a Mariners player at 17:54.
Tyler Hinam’s goal at 18:45 cut Maine’s deficit to 4-2. The teams traded goals in the third, with Jacoh Hayhurst scoring for Worcester and Brendan Robbins for Maine, before Smotherman added an empty-net goal at 17:37.
Maine’s schedule down the stretch is tough. Although the Mariners still have six games with the Adirondack Thunder, the last place team in the North, Maine has four games against the first-place Reading Royals and five games against the second-place Newfoundland Growlers.
Maine’s next game is Saturday at Adirondack.
“You don’t hold on to things. You keep moving forward. Other teams are well within our reach. We’ve got to play our best hockey down the stretch,” Guite said. “We worked hard at establishing an identity and really committing to the D side of the puck. Just try to eliminate stinkers like tonight.”
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