AHL Charlotte Checkers

Checkers Top AHL-Leading Stars on Road

March 23, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


Though the Checkers got some long-awaited help in the form of top talent from the NHL, they also had to rely on an inexperienced goaltender to get them through an important game against the AHL's top team.

As it turned out, both would rise to the occasion.

In their first game back following lengthy NHL stints, Riley Nash scored two goals, Zach Boychuk scored one and Rob Madore made 43 saves in his first career AHL start as the Checkers earned a 4-2 road victory over the Texas Stars on Saturday. The win pulled Charlotte within five points of Texas for the South Division lead, with two more head-to-head games coming up in Charlotte on April 11 and 12.

Brett Sutter had the other goal for the Checkers, who concluded their two-game road trip with their second win in as many meetings with Texas. They now return home to play their last seven home games of the regular season in consecutive order, starting with Tuesday's match-up against the Norfolk Admirals.

Nash, playing his first game with the Checkers since Feb. 16, began a run of four unanswered Charlotte goals when he tied the game at 1-1 four minutes into the second period by going around a defender at the blue line and ripping a near-side shot over goalie Jack Campbell's shoulder. He then concluded that run in the third period, effectively sealing the game when he looked off Matt Marquardt on a two-on-one break and scored his 13th of the season to make it 4-1.

Nash, who scored six points (3g, 3a) during a just-completed, 16-game stint in Carolina, now has 22 points (9g, 13a) in his last 18 AHL games. That includes multiple goals in each of his last two and multiple points in each of his last three.

Boychuk's odyssey was much more complex, as Nash's linemate on the night and the Checkers' scoring leader at the time of his last game played with the team on Jan. 11, had spent time with three different NHL teams between then and his reassignment to Charlotte around noon Saturday. He too picked up right where he left off, sending a low shot from the slot past Campbell to make the score 3-1 in period three.

The goal was Boychuk's sixth game-winner of the season, tying him for third in the AHL. The Checkers also have the league leader in Chris Terry (eight), who made a great play to draw two defenders as he curled behind the net before sending the puck out to Sutter to give his team its first lead midway through the second period.

With those known commodities doing what they do best - namely, the type of work that got them to the NHL in the first place - the Checkers were not disappointed with their first real look at Madore, a 24-year-old rookie out of the University of Vermont who spent the majority of the season in the ECHL after signing a two-way contract with Charlotte in the offseason.

After backing up for his first seven games on the AHL roster following Justin Peters' promotion to Carolina, Madore, who stopped all 16 shots he faced in relief of John Muse on Thursday, was outstanding against a Stars team that out-shot his club by a 17-7 margin in the first period. His 43 saves were the most by a Checkers goaltender since Mike Murphy made 44 against Norfolk on Oct. 23, 2011.

In between two goals given up to the Stars' Taylor Vause, one early in the first period and the other late in the third, Madore constantly withstood a barrage of Texas chances, most notably late in the second period, when he stopped a breakaway attempt by Alex Chiasson, among others.

With Muse perhaps headed to the NHL to replace former Checker Dan Ellis, who is expected to miss over a week with a leg laceration, Madore, if nothing else, has now given the team a solid option to man the fort for a few games.

The Checkers now have 79 points with 11 games remaining. They'll be looking to at least top the mark of 85 they set last season, when they missed the playoffs by a single point.

Check out the Charlotte Checkers Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from March 23, 2013


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