February 20, 2012; Raleigh, NC, USA; Carolina Hurricanes goalie Justin Peters (35) against the Washington Capitals at the RBC center. The Hurricanes defeated the Capitals 5-0. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
After tonight’s stellar performance by the Checkers, the Carolina Hurricanes are reportedly making their decision on who to invite to training camp. The Charlotte Checkers headed to Oklahoma to take on the Barons in the third meeting of the season. Despite the Barons holding a 2-0 advantage in the series the Checkers were able to pull out a victory with their entire roster in tact, winning …
The Checkers went into tonight’s game with five people sitting out, including Brett Sutter serving his game-suspension and Jerome Samson who is out with an upper body injury, leaving David Rutherford to suit up for his first ever AHL game. Just 27 seconds into the first period the Checkers showed they meant business as Boychuk received a cross-ice pass from Bobby Sanguinetti to put the Checkers up 1-0. Just after the Barons found themselves on the power play as Rutherford took his first penalty on his first shift, but they wouldn’t convert. As their power play expired they found themselves transitioning right into their penalty kill unit as the Checkers wound up on the power play against the worst penalty killing team in the League. Unfortunately, the Checkers weren’t able to convert either and the play leveled out. That is, until 11.2 seconds remaining when Chris Terry would extend his point streak to 5 games, putting the Checkers up 2-0 to end the first 20 minutes of play.
Once again, right off the back the Checkers got on the board after a back-door tap in by Zac Dalpe, Terry getting the assist for his second point of the night. As Jenks drew a boarding penalty against the Barons, the Checkers found themselves on their third power play of the game and extended their lead to 4-0 thanks to Jeremy Welsh, Dalpe and Raymond were credited with the helpers. It was at this point that the Barons decided to pull Yann Danis and put in Olivier Roy. However, he proved to be a little rusty as Dolan skated right in all by himself and put the pack right past him, instilling a 5-0 lead going into the third and final frame.
One would think that after the penalties killed the Barons they would do all they could to remain out of the box, However, just under four minutes into the third the Chekcers were presented with a power play again. One that would take a mere 18 seconds to score on with Bobby Sanguinetti tallying his second point of the game and tying the team’s largest scoring margin that was put in place back in October (6-0 against the Peoria Rivermen). Tim Wallace collected his third assist of the night on Sanguinetti’s goal and Drayson Bowman added his name to the score card with the other assist. However, Wallace wasn’t happy with only recording assists and put up a goal of his own to tie the Checkers franchise record high 7-goals put in place in December of 2010. In scoring the goal, Wallace created a career high 4-point game, which also tied a Checkers record. With just about 10 minutes remaining it looked as the Checkers netted their 8th goal, but the referees waived it off, however, with 9 minutes remaining, there was still plenty of time. With a minute and 19 to go the Barons attempted to put pressure on the Checekrs, but Peters was determined to get the shutout. They may not have broken the records, but they tied them and put themselves in the books tonight, making a final statement before the Canes organization makes their decisions.
Tomorrow night the two teams will meet up again in hopes of coming out victorious again. Face off is at 8:00pm and can be seen and heard on AHL Live.
Game Notes…
- Goaltending: Justin Peters saved all 24 shots he faced and preserved a 7-0 lead for the Checkers tonight. Meanwhile at the other end of the ice the Barons split time between Yann Davis and Olivier Roy, although Davis is credited with the loss.
- Shots on Goal: Charlotte 8-13-13 (34) Oklahoma 5-11-8 (24)
- Power Play Opportunities: Charlotte 2/7 Oklahoma 0/3
- Three Stars of the Game:
- Tim Wallace – 1 goal, 3 assists (Charlotte)
- Justin Krueger – 2 assists (Charlotte)
- Justin Peters – shutout victory (Charlotte)