Gerry Mayhew's Hat Trick Leads Checkers to Sweep of Lehigh Valley
February 15, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release
Gerry Mayhew put on a show in Wednesday's rematch with Lehigh Valley, racking up a hat trick to propel the Checkers to a 4-1 win.
The veteran forward broke open the scoring with a power-play tally in the first - a goal that Lehigh Valley responded to shortly after to push the game into the first intermission deadlocked.
Mayhew took over in the middle frame, though. He picked up a loose puck from the slot and wired it to the back of the net to regain the lead for the home team early on in the period, then entered the zone with speed and pulled off a slick shot to cap off the hat trick against his former team.
That individual effort was more than enough for the Checkers to coast to a weekday sweep - Henry Bowlby tacked on one more tally later in the second, and Mack Guzda turned aside 17 of the 18 shots he faced to send the Phantoms packing.
QUOTES
Coach Geordie Kinnear on getting a second straight win against Lehigh Valley
Lehigh is a really good hockey team and is playing good hockey. We were worried about ourselves too, because if you look in the past we haven't been great on back-to-backs at home. We wanted to correct that, and give a lot of credit to the leadership group. We had a real good back-to-back.
Kinnear on Gerry Mayhew's game
He had lots of jump. That's what he can do. He's had lots of chances throughout the year and capitalized on them. That line was really good, but I liked the effort from everyone tonight.
Kinnear on Mayhew's recent offensive surge
Confidence is a wonderful thing. When you work hard, you start getting rewarded for that work and you become confident. He has to continue to work hard to hold that confidence.
Kinnear on Mack Guzda
If you look at his last game, he probably didn't love the last game. We're all about, when a mistake happens or something doesn't go your way, how do you respond. It was a great response from him tonight for a young kid.
Gerry Mayhew on how he felt during this game
Good. My legs were in it tonight. We had a great game as a team tonight and did the right things tonight. That's why we came out with the W.
Mayhew on what made the team successful tonight
We were just above all their forwards. We won the battles on the blue line and on the boards. We played a great game as a whole unit. Guzda played great. Just an all-around great effort.
Mayhew on his recent offensive surge
I just think being on that line with me, Hutty and Bunnaman, it's just been clicking. I've been moving my feet a little more trying to beat defenders wide and stuff like that. It's been good.
Mayhew on if it was special to get this hat trick at home
Definitely, and especially against a team I played on last year. A little bragging rights.
NOTES
The Checkers improved to 16-5-1 since Dec. 22 ... This was Gerry Mayhew's third career hat trick. His most recent came three years and one day ago (2/14/20) during his MVP season with the Iowa Wild ... Ten of Mayhew's 14 goals on the season have come since Jan. 14 (13 games) ... This was the Checkers' first regular-season hat trick since Feb. 4 of last season (Zac Dalpe at Rochester). It was the team's first at home since Jan. 15 of last season (Serron Noel vs. Texas) ... Matt Kiersted (two assists) had his first multi-point game of the season. He has seven points (2g, 5a) in his last seven games. He also posted a plus-3 rating for the fourth time this season ... Henry Bowlby scored for the third consecutive game, a new career high ... The Checkers are now 3-3-0 against Lehigh Valley this season ... Checkers scratches included forward Ethan Keppen, defenseman Calle Sjalin and goaltender J-F Berube.
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