Brody Sutter's Goal Wins Game 1 in Overtime
April 26, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release
The first game of the Checkers' return to the playoffs ended in textbook playoff fashion - a huge goal from an unlikely source.
Rookie center Brody Sutter scored his second goal of the game on a deflection just 3:06 into overtime to give the Checkers a 4-3 win in Game 1 of their first-round series in Oklahoma City on Friday night. It marked the first multi-goal game of Sutter's professional career, including time spent in both the ECHL and AHL this season.
Justin Shugg and Zach Boychuk also scored in a game that featured four lead changes, continuing a back-and-forth, regular-season match-up against the two South Division rivals, who split their season series at four games apiece and finished just one point apart from each other in the standings.
Rookie goaltender Rob Madore, not publicly announced as the team's starter until game time, made 30 saves. Game 2 of the match-up between the Western Conference's No. 4 and 5 seeds will take place Saturday night in Oklahoma City before the teams head to Charlotte to conclude the best-of-five set.
Sutter, the youngest professional player in hockey's most famous family, capped off what had been a fast start to overtime for the visitors, who missed an earlier chance to win the game when goalie Yann Danis made saves on Boychuk and Zac Dalpe in close. It was only moments later that Sutter ended the game by redirecting Brett Bellemore's shot from the point into the goal, sending the Checkers into celebration.
It was a familiar feeling for the Checkers, who tied for the AHL lead with seven overtime wins (excluding shootouts) during the regular season. One of those came at Oklahoma City on Jan. 12.
With the Checkers ever since his initial recall from the Florida Everblades on Feb. 20, Sutter had scored just four goals in 27 career AHL games prior to Friday. It had been four years since his last playoff game, which came with the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes in 2009 when he was just 17 years old.
Earlier in the contest, Sutter had scored to give the Checkers a 2-1 lead midway through the second period when his wraparound attempt went off the skate of Barons defenseman Martin Marincin and into the net.
That goal, which built off Shugg's rebound strike on an early second-period power play, gave the Checkers plenty of momentum that ended up being short-lived. Uncharacteristically poor discipline from the league's best-behaved team in the regular season finally caught up to the Checkers in the final two minutes of the period, when the Barons scored their first power-play goal on five attempts. C.J. Stretch did the honors, easily skating around an exhausted group of penalty killers that hadn't been able to clear the zone for a meaningful amount of time after a long shift, scoring on a wraparound.
Charlotte's misfortune mounted 21 seconds later, when puck skidding harmlessly around the glass unexpectedly caromed in front of goal, with Barons captain Josh Green giving his team a 3-2 lead going into the second intermission.
As much as that sequence stung, the Checkers were able to bounce back on an early power play, just as they did on Shugg's goal in the first period. This time it was Boychuk doing the honors, scoring for the fourth time in as many games just 14 seconds into the man advantage.
The Checkers finished the night 2-for-4 on the power play, improving their record to 14-for-44 (31.9 percent) against the AHL's 30th-ranked penalty kill this season. Despite their low ranking, the Barons had killed 43 of 44 penalties over their last 16 games entering the postseason.
Teemu Hartikainen opened the scoring when left all alone to receive a back-door pass in the crease just under eight minutes into the first period as part of a lackluster first period that saw the Barons out-shoot the Checkers 13-5 but fail to score on any of their three power plays. They nearly added a second strike in the first period, but a close play in which the light went on behind Madore was ruled no goal, with the call upheld by video review.
Hartikainen, who returned from the NHL's Edmonton Oilers one day earlier, and Green each had two points to lead the Barons.
In addition to Boychuk extending his goal and point streaks (4g, 1a) in his last four games, Shugg, Chris Terry, Riley Nash, Matt Marquardt, Bobby Raymond and Ryan Murphy also recorded at least one point to keep theirs alive. Among those, Terry, who had two assists on Friday, including one on the winning goal, has the longest streak at seven games (1g, 9a), tying his longest from the regular season. He also has points in 11 consecutive road games (4g, 11a), which is the longest posted by any AHL player this season.
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
American Hockey League Stories from April 26, 2013
- Admirals Drop Game One in OT - Milwaukee Admirals
- Houston Takes Game 1 - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Brett Ritchie's Overtime Goal Gives Texas 3-2 Win - Texas Stars
- Aeros Shut Out Griffins in Game 1, Take 1-0 Series Lead - Houston Aeros
- Brody Sutter's Goal Wins Game 1 in Overtime - Charlotte Checkers
- Bears Power Past Bruins in Game One - Hershey Bears
- Bruins Fall in Game 1 to Bears 5-2 - Providence Bruins
- B-Sens Weekly - Binghamton Senators
- Promotions Set for Griffins' First Round Tilt against Aeros - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Dallas Returns All-Star Matt Fraser to Texas Stars - Texas Stars
- Eight IceHogs Recalled to Blackhawks - Rockford IceHogs
- Syracuse Landmark Buildings Go Blue for Crunch Playoff Games - Syracuse Crunch
- 1070 KNTH the Answer to Broadcast All Playoff Games Live - Houston Aeros
- Get Your Falcons Playoff Gear at a Great Value - Springfield Falcons
- Predators Reassign Bang, Henderson - Milwaukee Admirals
- St. John's IceCaps Thank Volunteers - St. John's IceCaps
- Boston Bruins Assign Matt Bartkowski to Providence - Providence Bruins
- Stanton Gets the Call to Chicago - Rockford IceHogs
- The Distillery on Winton Road to Host Amerks Viewing Parties - Rochester Americans
- Minnesota Wild Recalls McMillan - Houston Aeros
- Lightning Reassign Radko Gudas, Richard Panik to Syracuse - Syracuse Crunch
- Griffins Add Marek Tvrdon - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Dax Delivers for Mother's Day - Adirondack Phantoms
- Games 1 and 2 of Amerks-Marlies Series to be Televised on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel - Rochester Americans
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
