ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Fall to Charlotte in Shootout

Published on October 30, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


For the fourth straight game, the Gwinnett Gladiators would need extra time to decide a winner. Gwinnett again got out to a quick multiple-goal first period lead, but as has happened in each of their last three games, they would see that lead disappear. Gwinnett dominated the playa early on but would once again let down, as the momentum swung in favor of the Checkers.

Caruana got the scoring started with his fifth goal of the season just 1:54 into the first frame on a Gwinnett odd man rush. What looked like a crossing pass somehow found its way inside the far post, fooling Charlotte goaltender Matt Zaba. Tom Zanoski picked up his seventh assist of the season on the goal.

Chad Denny put the Gladiators up by two just 1:14 later when a tic-tac-toe found the defenseman all alone in front of the net for an easy tap in goal, his first of the season. Assists were credited to Pat Galivan and Chris Zarb.

From there, things picked up in a hurry.

Charlotte would get on the board at the 7:07 mark of the period when Julien Brouillette fired a puck over the right shoulder of Gwinnett goaltender Danny Taylor as he broke into the zone and let one loose from between the circles just above the hash marks.

The Checkers would strike again at the 9:57 mark of the period on a goal from team point leader, Michel Leveille, to tie the game at two. All four goals were posted in less than 10 minutes.

Charlotte would then take the lead as defenseman Mike Berube notched his secnd goal of the season 13:42 into the second frame with assists going to Leveille and Derek Couture.

In an effort to rally his team after giving up three first period goals, Tom Zanoski dropped the gloves against Charlotte enforcer TJ Reynolds for a rare fight.

The Gladiators would eventually pull even at three on another strange play that went in favor of Gwinnett. While on the power play, a Drew Paris dump from center ice took a big bounce off the glass behind the Charlotte net and deflected off the back of unsuspecting Checkers goaltender Chris Zaba and into the net to extend the Gladiators' streak of power play goals to six games.

After a nine-minute lull in the scoring to begin the second period, the action would pick right back up with another two-goal flurry by the Checkers.

Jared Nightingale restored Charlotte's lead with a power play goal at 9:02 of the middle frame, which would be followed 42 seconds later on an even-strength goal by Andrew Carroll on assists from Chris Campbell and Jean-Philipp Chabot, giving Charlotte a 5-3 advantage and their first two-goal lead of the game.

Tom Zanoski would pull the Gladiators back to within one on an odd-man rush into the Charlotte zone. Taking an outlet pass from goaltender Danny Taylor, Zanoski would take it himself, bringing it up the right boards and firing a well-placed wrist shot from the right faceoff dot just inside the near post, beating Charlotte goaltender Matt Zaba on the glove side for his second point of the night.

Drew Paris' then tied the game at five with his second power play goal of game, at 8:43 of the third period. Sam Roberts took a pass from Brad Schell along the left-side boards and fed Paris who's shot found the net through traffic from just inside the blue line. With the assist, Schell extended his point streak to six games.

After a back and forth overtime period solved nothing, the game moved into the Gladiators' first shootout at home this season.

Danny Taylor allowed all three of Charlotte's shooters to find the back of the net, while Tom Zanoski, Scott Mifsud, and Brad Schell all were denied by Charlotte goaltender Matt Zaba.

Taylor finished with 31 saves on 36 shots, including four in overtime, and Matt Zaba stopped 21 Gladiator shots in the win.

For just the second time in the last 13 regular season games, the Gladiators posted less than 30 shots on the opposing goalie.

Gwinnett's Scott Mifsud saw his five-game point streak come to an end and currently sits at seven points through six games.

Charlotte's Michele Leveille finished with a game-high three points with a goal and two assists and also added a tally in the shootout.

Gwinnett drops to 3-1-1-1 on the season, while Charlotte improves to 3-1-0-0. A rematch between the teams will take place on Sunday, November 1, in the Checkers' home opener in Charlotte.

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ECHL Stories from October 30, 2009


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