LOWELL, MA – The second professional hat trick of Rod Pelley’s career helped lead the Lowell Devils to a 6-4 victory over the Worcester Sharks at the Tsongas Arena on Saturday night. The Devils enter the All-Star break, having won three in a row and picking up their first win over the Sharks since their home opener on October 11 – also a 6-4 triumph.
With the two teams tied at one after one, Pelley’s trio of goals was the highlight in a back-and-forth second period that saw the Devils take the lead. Lowell went up by one at 3:10 when Pelley’s pass on a 2-on-1 rush was deflected back to him and he was able to dump it into the open net.
The Devils’ captain struck again three minutes later with a nifty backhand shot past goalie Thomas Greiss that made the score 3-1.
Jamie McGinn’s power play goal at 13:45 cut Lowell’s lead in half, but Pelley would respond on the man-advantage to cap off his scoring and put his team back up by two. Alexander Vasyunov sent a pass to the crease for Barry Tallackson, who shrugged off the defender and hit a streaking Pelley at the far post for his ninth of the season.
Worcester would make it interesting once again as Corey Larose deflected Brendan Buckley’s point shot down and under the pads of Jeff Frazee. Lowell would quickly answer back once again, when – during a delayed penalty – Mark Fraser’s wrist shot from in front of his bench weaved its way through traffic and past Greiss with 16.6 seconds left in the second frame.
The score remained 5-3 in favor of the Devils until the final moments of the third as Ryan Murphy completed a 3-on-1 break, knuckling a shot across the goal line. Patrick Traverse added one late for the Sharks to complete the scoring.
The Sharks’ Matt Fornataro opened the scoring at 8:16 of the first, but later in the period it was Patrick Davis slipping by the defense before sliding a backhand through the pads of Greiss.
Frazee made 36 saves of 40 shots for his 17th win of the season, while Tallackson also contributed three assists.