WORCESTER — A long shot by a long shot helped the Railers to one of their most dramatic victories of the season Wednesday night at the DCU Center.
Justin Hamonic’s 50-footer with 1:35 left in the third period brought Worcester from behind to forge a tie versus the Reading Royals, then Chris Langkow connected with 59 seconds left in overtime, to win it, 3-2.
The goal was Hamonic’s first in 43 games with the Railers, his second in 134 games in the ECHL.
“To be honest, I didn’t even see it go in,” Hamonic said. “I saw (Jeff Kubiak) going to the net, and another guy at the side of the net, and it was kind of a little half-windup shot. You always hear, put the puck on the net, and good things happen, and they did, but I didn’t know it went in until I saw everybody coming back to me.”
Barry Almeida, who assisted on the overtime goal, had the Railers’ other score. Matt Willows and James de Haas scored for Reading.
Worcester’s power play, which has been very effective in recent games, was held scoreless Wednesday night. So was Reading’s. Of course, neither had a power-play chance since for the only the 10th time in ECHL history, there were no penalties called in the game.
It marked the first time that happened in Worcester hockey history.
Worcester has closed to within 10 points of a playoff spot and has three games in hand on fourth-place Adirondack. The Railers are 5-0-1 in their last six games, earning 11 of a possible 12 points.
Much of the credit for the Railers’ victory went to goaltender Eamon McAdam. He played one of his best games of the season and was at his best early, then late. Worcester played a torpid first period and was outshot, 13-1, but headed into the intermission in a scoreless tie.
In overtime, McAdam stopped Chris McCarthy point blank with exactly two minutes to play. That allowed the Railers to connect with the winner. It was their first home OT victory ever, and McAdam’s first overtime win of the season as well.
“He is playing extremely well,” coach Jamie Russell said. “He’s solid, making big saves. Our goaltending has been terrific all year, but Eamon’s really taken it to another level.”
That the Railers survived the first period was a bit miraculous, and it also allowed them to stay in the game and eventually put together a comeback.
“I didn’t like our first period, obviously,” Russell said, “but give the guys a lot of credit. We had a great shift to start the second period, came out and created some chances and had a lot of (offensive) zone play. We showed a lot of character coming back like that from a goal down to get a big overtime goal and two big points.”
Reading led, 1-0, going into the third period, then Almeida beat Royals goalie John Muse with a short backhander at 1:27. A goal by de Haas put Reading back up at 7:00, and McAdam kept it close until Russell was able to pull him and Hamonic was able to tie it.
Matt Gaudreau set up Langkow for the winner with a pass that Langkow redirected home from just outside the left post.
Rail life
Had the weather been better, the Railers would have had an audience in the 2,000s, but with the possibility that the world would be ending because of a couple of inches of snow, the actual crowd numbered just a few hundred. It was announced as 1,923… ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna announced he will step down at the end of this season, his 16th running the league. During his tenure, the ECHL saw three other Double-A minor leagues disappear, some of the teams joining the ECHL — the United Hockey League, West Coast Hockey League and Central Hockey League. … Goalie Mitch Gillam was returned by Utica of the AHL, and defenseman Anthony Calabrese was activated. In order to create roster flexibility, the Railers placed Ashton Rome on injured reserve. … A scoring change from Friday night gave Woody Hudson an assist rather than Matt Lane. It is his fourth … There are two games left on the homestand as South Carolina comes in Friday night for its only visit of the season, and Brampton is back on Saturday. … Calabrese, Brian Bowen and Tommy Kelley were the healthy scratches.
—Contact Bill Ballou at william.ballou@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillBallouTG.