The Elmira Jackals fell behind early against the Charlotte Checkers Sunday evening in Charlotte, N.C., trailing 2-0 in the first 3:29 of the game before losing 6-4 to the Checkers for the second time this weekend at the Time Warner Cable Arena.Just after the opening faceoff, Kenny Roche batted a puck out of mid-air past Jackals goalender Chris Holt for the 1-0 advantage 25 seconds into the contest. From there, the Checkers did not look back.
Michel Leveille gave the Checkers the 2-0 lead on a two-on-one at 3:29 of the first period with Tyler Doig. Doig took the puck up the left wing and found Doig skating into the right circle who shot it past Holt for the two-goal lead.
Tyler Donati brought the Jackals to within one at 3:51 of the first period, as his brother Justin Donati found Tyler streaking into the left circle, and he shot it past Charlotte goaltender Frank Doyle high glove side to bring the Jackals to within one.
However, that was the closest the Jackals would come. In the second period, T.J. Reynolds shot a puck from the high slot that made its way past Holt at 2:25. Andrew Carroll knocked home a feed from Jean-Phillip Chabot at 7:16. Chabot then scored a goal of his own on a scramble in front at 12:25 for the 5-1 lead.
Moments later, Chanse Fitzpatrick took a feed in the slot from Brendan Connolly for the Jackals second goal at 13:16 of the second, making it 5-2. Steven Ward made it 6-2 at the end of the session, with a shot from the left point beating Holt high glove side at 19:51 to give the Checkers the 6-2 lead entering the third period.
The Jackals scored two goals in the third to make things interesting. Maxime Gratchev off a draw fired a shot past Doyle at 4:15, and Olivier Proulx took a feed from Chanse Fitzpatrick on the doorstep and made it 6-4 at 9:08, but the Jackals were unable to solve Doyle for the rest of the game.
The 6-4 Checkers win took just two hours and four minutes and saw only three power plays by each team.
Holt made 16 stops on 22 Checkers shots, while Doyle made 20 saves on 24 Jackals bids, winning in his first start of the season.
The Jackals return home Friday, November 20 against the Wheeling Nailers.
Fans will receive thundersticks, and the puck drops at 7:35 p.m.
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