Checkers Score Five Straight to Drown Whale
February 24, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release
CHARLOTTE, N.C.-The Charlotte Checkers scored five straight goals and Mike Murphy continued his stellar play as they downed the Connecticut Whale, 5-1, on Thursday evening.
Murphy stopped all but one of Connecticut's 30 shots to improve to 7-0-1, including a shutout, in his last eight games. Chris Terry scored two second-period goals to supplement tallies by Matthew Pistilli, Drayson Bowman and Zac Dalpe.
Along with his goal, Dalpe added a pair of assists for his 10th multi-point game of the season. Bryan Rodney led the way on defense for Charlotte with two assists and a plus-3 rating.
Whale goaltender Chad Johnson had a rough night, allowing five goals on 16 shots before being replaced by DovGrumet-Morris with 4:09 left in the second period.
At 8:57 of the first period, the Checkers got on the board first with a goal by Pistilli. Bowman drove down the left-wing side, found Pistilli trailing the play and the winger blasted a slap shot into the upper left corner of the net.
Bowman then extended the Charlotte lead to 2-0, with 5:47 remaining in the opening period. The Colorado native collected a loose puck at the top of the right-wing circle and ripped a slap shot off of the far post and in.
In the opening minute of the second period, the Checkers padded their lead with a goal by Dalpe. The AHL rookie scoring leader took a bad angle shot from the right-wing side that squeaked between Johnson's skate and the post.
Later in the second, Terry tacked on a pair of goals, including a power-play tally, to drive his season total to 25, the most on the Checkers' active roster.
In an attempt to reverse their fortunes, Connecticut relieved Johnson in favor of Grumet-Morris late in the second period.
The Whale denied Murphy his second shutout of the week with a late-third period goal by Brodie Dupont but it wasn't enough as the Checkers won, 5-1.
The Checkers (33-20-2-5) travel to Norfolk to take on the Admirals on Friday night before returning to Charlotte on Saturday to battle Connecticut for the second time in three nights. The puck drops at 7 p.m. at Time Warner Cable Arena. For ticket information, call 704-342-4423 or visit www.gocheckers.com. The first 3,000 fans at Saturday's game will receive a free Checkers backpack.
NOTES: Zac Dalpe leads all rookies with 41 (18g, 23a) points in just 41 games... Chris Terry has five goals in his last four games and is on a five game point streak (5g, 3a)... Matthew Pistilli has scored three goals in his last four games... Drayson Bowman has scored goals in three straight games... Bryan Rodney has six (1g, 5a) points in his last three games... Mike Murphy is 7-0-1 in his last eight games and has recorded two assists in his last three games.
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