Checkers Roll Gladiators 5-1
Published on February 12, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release
Ryan Crane scored two goals and added an assist for the Checkers, and Danny Taylor allowed five goals in his first loss in five games, as the Charlotte Checkers rolled over the Gwinnett Gladiators 5-1 in South Division play. Despite a slow start to the game and a 1-0 lead after the first period, the Gladiators succumbed to Charlotte's powerful offense, allowing four goals in the final period in front of a light crowd of 3,792 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center on Friday night.
In a highly conservative opening period, it was Charlotte who made the first mistake. Checker goaltender Ryan Munce attempted to play a puck to his left near the goal line, but Tim Miller poked it free and snuck a wrap around between the near post and Munce, who couldn't recover in time to make the save. Drew Paris assisted on the play.
Despite trailing 12-5 in shots, Gwinnett took the 1-0 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes.
Matt Schepke scored for the Checkers to tie the game at one at 14:18 of the second period, batting a deflection out of mid-air. Aaron Slattengren's shot bounced straight up off of Taylor, who lost sight of the puck and never had a chance.
After two periods, Charlotte owned a 28-14 advantage in shots.
Charlotte made it 2-1 at 8:04, when Steve Ward buried a rebound in the slot off of a Tyler Doig shot, and Ryan Crane added to the lead less than three minutes later, beating Gwinnett goaltender Danny Taylor with a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot.
Ryan Crane scored his second goal of the night at 13:52, and David Marshall capped off the scoring at 17:44 with his 14th goal of the season to give the Checkers a 5-1 victory.
Danny Taylor made 34 saves in his first loss in five games, as the Gladiators drop to 23-21-3-2 on the season. The Gladiators threw 26 shots on Munce, who stopped all but one.
Gwinnett finished 0-for-3 on the power play, their third straight game without an extra-man goal.
Gwinnett's Chris Higgins left the game midway through the third period with an apparent shoulder injury and did not return.
The teams will meet again tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. in the second game of the Gladiators' Pink in the Rink weekend.
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