Checkers Seal Comeback in Overtime
January 12, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release
What the Checkers' offense lacked in consistency after losing several key players, it made up for with timeliness.
A.J. Jenks tied the game with 2:28 remaining in regulation and Chris Terry scored the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory over Oklahoma City on Saturday night. The win, the Checkers' season-high fourth in a row, came despite the team taking a season-low 19 shots on goal.
Riley Nash and Brett Sutter also scored for the Checkers, who were playing without 11 players that were available to them on the season's opening night. Five of those missed the game due to injury, while another six - Drayson Bowman, Zach Boychuk, Tim Wallace, Jeremy Welsh, Bobby Sanguinetti and Dan Ellis - were on route to Carolina for the Hurricanes' upcoming training camp.
To make up for the loss of those players, a group of those who stayed behind, namely Sutter, Terry, Zac Dalpe (two assists) and Justin Peters (32) saves made contributions, as did a group of players who arrived from the ECHL as reinforcements earlier in the day.
Of the five players who made their season debut with the Checkers on Saturday, defenseman Beau Schmitz was the only one to get on the score sheet, earning his first professional point with an assist on Nash's goal. Jenks, who started the season with the Checkers but spent the last month with the ECHL's Florida Everblades, had come up just two days earlier, while David Rutherford, who arrived Friday, chipped in his first pro point by assisting on Jenks' goal.
With the win, the Checkers completed a back-to-back sweep of the Barons, who they defeated by a 7-0 score on Friday. The season series is now tied at two games apiece, with the road team winning all four games.
Though the Checkers entered the third trailing by just one goal, an equalizer seemed perhaps unlikely in a period that saw the visitors out-shot by a 12-4 margin. However, Jenks was able to find a loose puck in traffic and immediately fire it past goalie Yann Danis for his first AHL goal in nine games this season.
During an overtime power play that came after Dalpe had drawn a holding penalty just 18 seconds in, Terry extended his point streak to six games (3g, 6a) with a one-time blast from the right point. The goal was his fifth game-winner of the season, tying him with Boychuk for the team lead.
The goal was the Checkers' second power-play goal of the game, giving them two consecutive games with multiple power-play goals. Prior to facing the AHL's 30th-ranked penalty kill for two games this weekend, they had not recorded more than one power play goal in a single game since Oct. 28.
Despite drawing first blood via Nash's goal just four minutes into the first period, the Checkers had previously fallen into a 3-1 hole as the Barons scored three times in the first 10 minutes of the second period. However, Sutter provided an important response, crashing the net and knocking home a loose puck Danis thought he had covered only 32 seconds after Toni Rajala had scored the Barons' third goal.
The Checkers now hop aboard a seven-hour bus to Houston to continue a three-games-in-three-nights set. They are in position to win all three games for the third time in team history and third time this season.
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
American Hockey League Stories from January 12, 2013
- Saad's Overtime Heroics Lead Rockford - Rockford IceHogs
- Texas Trip Ends as It Started, with a Win - Cleveland Monsters
- Rivermen Down Griffins in Overtime - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Largest Crowd Of Season Sees Falcons Power Past Bruins - Springfield Falcons
- Crunch Win Streak Snapped by Rochester - Syracuse Crunch
- Rivermen Rally for OT Win - Peoria Rivermen
- Texas Slams San Antonio 3-1 - Texas Stars
- Rampage Fall to Texas, 3-1 - San Antonio Rampage
- B-Sens Outplay Admirals, 4-2 - Binghamton Senators
- Monsters Slip Past Aeros 2-1 - Houston Aeros
- Checkers Seal Comeback in Overtime - Charlotte Checkers
- Noebels Scores 1st AHL Goal in Away Setback - Adirondack Phantoms
- Shootout Decides Bears' Victory over Whale - Hershey Bears
- Whale lose in shootout - Connecticut Whale
- Penguins Skate Past Phantoms - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
- Toronto Defeats St. John's 6-2 - Toronto Marlies
- Bruins Fall to Falcons - Providence Bruins
- Senators Veto Admirals' Comeback Attempt - Norfolk Admirals
- IceCaps Ousted by Marlies - St. John's IceCaps
- Home Advantage for the Devils - Albany Devils
- Dallas Reassigns Tyler Beskorowany to Texas - Texas Stars
- Sharks Get Bedeviled in Albany - Worcester Sharks
- Jets Encourage Fans to Enter Random Draw - St. John's IceCaps
- Mink Signed to PTO - Providence Bruins
- Randell Recalled; P-Bruins Sign O'Neil to PTO - Providence Bruins
- Six Players Join Admirals from ECHL - Norfolk Admirals
- Penguins Sign Barton and Crowder to PTOs - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
- B-Sens Add Four to Roster - Binghamton Senators
- Crunch Recall Charles Landry and Alex Hutchings - Syracuse Crunch
- Falcons Recall Dainton from IceMen - Springfield Falcons
- Falcons Game Preview: Springfield Vs. Providence, Game #35 - Springfield Falcons
- Bears Summon Three from Reading Royals - Hershey Bears
- Heat Dropped 3-1 by Wolves in First of Two Games - Abbotsford Heat
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.
