Worcester, MA – The Norfolk Admirals began the first of three straight games on Thursday night against the Worcester Railers at the DCU Center. Andrei Bakanov, who was making his return to Worcester, scored two goals against his former team in an eventual 4-1 victory.
The Railers put up five early shots on Thomas Milic, but the British Columbia native stood the test and stopped all of them. Moments after Worcester’s fifth shot, Brady Fleurent deflected a Nathan Kelly shot from the blue line and found its way past Hugo Ollas for a 1-0 Admirals’ lead.
Seven minutes later, Filip Fornåå Svensson scored his 25th of the season by going short side on Ollas to give Norfolk a 2-0 edge. The Railers outshot the Admirals in the first period, 13-11.
Worcester scored the lone goal in the second period and it came from Anthony Collin on the power play to make it 2-1. Milic finished the period with 12 saves.
Bakanov scored two goals in the third period, both being assisted by Grant Hebert, and the Admirals pulled out a 4-1 win. All told, Milic finished the night with 30 saves on 31 shots for his eighth win of the season.
With the win, the Admirals move into second place in the North division for the first time since December 31, 2024.
