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AHL Charlotte Checkers

Checkers Send Barons Packing with 2-1 Win

April 3, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


After a tough overtime defeat the night before, the Checkers took care of business by downing the Oklahoma City Barons 2-1 in a tightly-fought contest.

The Checkers continued their recent streak of starting off with strong first periods, controlling stretches of play and creating several chances but only registering seven shots on goal. But unlike last night's empty-handed 18-shot start, they were able to cash in when Chad LaRose took off on a breakaway and netted his AHL-leading fifth shorthanded point to give the Checkers a 1-0 advantage heading into the second intermission.

Finally finding themselves on the board first after not getting rewarded in last night's tilt served as a nice boost for the team.

"That was a big goal just to give us the lead," said head coach Jeff Daniels. "It gives us a little spark. It was a big shorthanded goal. We wanted to come out strong and that was a good way to start."

"Tonight to come out and have a good first period and actually get rewarded was a nice change," said Brody Sutter.

The Barons wasted no time knotting things up in the second, however, with Joshua Winquist deflecting a Ryan Hamilton pass just past John Muse less than five minutes into the frame. The two squads traded opportunities back and forth for the following chunk of the period before Sutter put the Checkers back on top with a slap shot from the right circle that handcuffed Barons goalie Laurent Brossoit and found the back of the net. That would hold up as the game winner as the Checkers buckled down in the third and stifled Oklahoma City, holding them to just six shots en route to a 2-1 victory.

Sutter's tally kept his remarkable hot streak going as it was his seventh in his last seven games. After missing considerable time earlier in the season due to injury, the center has really started to come into his own during this last stretch of the season, carrying a lot of the offensive load for the Checkers.

"It took him a little while to get back from his injury," said Daniels. "Even though he was back playing he wasn't back the way he wanted to be, but now he's where he needs to be and wants to be. Confidence is such a big part of this game, and obviously he's finding the back of the net. He's just shooting the puck and going to the net. He's not beating guys one-on-one and he's not trying to do too much. He's just keeping it simple, and when you do that you get good results."

The Checkers have had significant success in bouncing back for the second-half of a back-to-back, and tonight was no different. After firing a season-high 49 shots on goal but coming away with a loss, tonight's rebound effort showed the resiliency of the club.

"Last night could have been demoralizing but luckily we stayed with it and had good second and third periods," said Sutter. "I thought we deserved to win the game last night, so to come out and put in a pretty good effort two nights in a row was exciting for this group."

"Last night we just couldn't score goals," said Daniels. "We had almost 50 shots at the net and their goalie played great. Tonight we didn't create as much offense as we wanted to and part of that is that they played a strong game. We're just trying to keep it simple and not beat ourselves."

The Checkers will now run into a weird quirk in their schedule as they go into their longest break of the season with just five games to go. While seven days in between games this late in the season is not ideal, especially for a team not in the playoff hunt, it will give them a chance to get in some solid practice time to prepare for their last stretch.

"I think ideally you'd like the break spaced out a little bit more throughout the season," said Sutter. "You have some stretches where you're playing a lot of hockey and it'd be nice to get an extra day or rest or two then, but at the same time if we were going to make the playoffs this year this break would be awesome to have. It's one of those things where we didn't have the type of year that we wanted so the break won't be as effective as it could have been."

"You want to play, no matter where you sit in the standings," said Daniels. "You want to play games. Ideally you go two or three practices and then get right back in a game. Five is a long period of time, so we'll try to keep it fresh for him and keep it exciting. We should have good energy next weekend."

NOTES:

Sutter now has seven goals in his last seven games. He had five in his previous 36 ... LaRose's goal tied him for the AHL lead in shorthanded points (five) ... Defenseman Brett Pesce, who was playing his second pro game, recorded his first point with the secondary assist on Sutter's goal ... The Checkers finished the 12-game season series against Oklahoma City with a record of 4-6-2 ... Charlotte halted its winless streak at three games (0-2-1) ... The Checkers are 0-for-12 on the power play over their last four games ... After going 18 games without a point, Patrick Brown has assists in back-to-back games ... Forward Carter Sandlak, defensemen Austin Levi and Josh Wesley and goaltender Rasmus Tirronen were healthy extras ... Greg Nemisz missed the game due to injury.

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