ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Fall To Checkers 6-3

Published on November 26, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Gwinnett Gladiators' home struggles continued Thursday evening, as they dropped their third consecutive home game, falling 6-3 to the Charlotte Checkers in front of 4,792 in their seventh annual Thanksgiving Night game.

The Charlotte Checkers, who brought with them a four game winning streak in which they put up 24 goals, wasted no time lighting the lamp as Daniel Tkaczuk tipped a centering pass from Randy Rowe just over Gwinnett goaltender Danny Taylor's blocker just one minute into the contest.

The Checkers dominated the pace of the entire period, firing 17 shots on goal, and the Gladiators managed only limited offensive pressure. But the score remained unchanged after the first minute of play, as the Gladiators tightened up defensively and killed off two Charlotte man-advantages. Shots after one period were 17-9 in favor of Charlotte.

The Gladiators responded in the second period with more intensity, but were still unable to solve Charlotte goaltender Frank Doyle despite edging the Checkers in shots 15-12. The Gladiators got their first power play of the game at 7:13, but managed just one shot. Tempers flared in the final minutes of the frame after the third consecutive whistle deep in the Gwinnett zone, and Aaron Brocklehurst and Charlotte's Andrew Carroll dropped the gloves, much to the approval of the 4,793 Thanksgiving Day fans, who were craving any action they could get. The score remained 1-0 entering the final frame.

The Checkers struck again 2:55 into the third period to make the score 2-0 early in the last period. Mike Taylor found Jean-Philipp Chabot breaking toward the Gwinnett goal and snuck behind the Gladiators' defensive personnel and beat Taylor high on the blocker side from just above the crease.

Charlotte made it 3-0 four minutes later on another Gladiator defensive breakdown. Daniel Tkaczuk scored his second goal of the night, taking a pass from Randy Rowe from behind the Gwinnett goal cage and slamming it home low on Taylor's glove-hand side.

The Gladiators gained back a goal at the 11:13 mark of the third period. After some sustained offensive pressure and several missed shots, Matt Siddall bounced a puck off the pads of Frank Doyle from below the goal line to the left of the net, spoiling Doyle's shutout. Pat Galivan was credited with an assist, as was Adam Berti, extending his point streak to five games.

Charlotte regained their three-goal lead three minutes later on Randy Rowe's first goal of the season, which set off a scoring frenzy at both ends of the rink.

Jason Lawrence lit the lamp against his former team in his first game with the Gladiators 11 seconds after Rowe's goal, again closing the Checkers' lead to two, and Tom Zanoski cut the lead to 4-3 with a tally at 17:43, giving hope to a flailing Gwinnett squad.

But Matt Schepke's empty net goal with just over a minute remaining in regulation dashed any hopes of a Gladiator comeback, and they would add one more, as Daniel Tkaczuk completed his hat trick with 19 seconds remaining to settle the scoring at 6-3.

The Charlotte Checkers notched five goals in the third period, the most allowed by the Gladiators in a single period since South Carolina matched the number on Valentine=A1=A6s Day last season. With the win, they extend their winning streak to five games and up their goal count to 29 in that span.

The Gladiators fell to 3-5-0-1 at home, losing just their second game to a South Division team all season.

Danny Taylor suffered his third loss, stopping 37 out of 43 shots, and Frank Doyle imporved to 3-0-0-0 on the season, as he made 33 saves in the win.

The Gladiators move to 8-5-1-1 on the season, losing their third straight home tilt, and the Checkers improve to 10-3-1-1, upping their lead in the standings to four points over Gwinnett and just two shy of leader South Carolina.

The Gladiators wrap up their three-day holiday homestand with a Saturday night tilt against the Checkers beginning at 7:05 p.m.

The Gladiators continue their 7th season in the ECHL on Friday, October 30th vs. Charlotte at 7:35 p.m. The Gladiators are the AA affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers and Columbus Blue Jackets and play all home games at the 11,355-seat Arena at Gwinnett Center, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.

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ECHL Stories from November 26, 2009


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