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AHL Springfield Thunderbirds

Hofer Excels as T-Birds Hold off Checkers, 4-2

February 26, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Thunderbirds News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (28-15-5-2) the Charlotte Checkers (26-20-3-0) on Saturday night at the MassMutual Center.

As they did in each of the first two games of their homestand, the Thunderbirds made the goaltender work hard from the jump, as Springfield launched 17 of the game's first 20 shots at the net Checkers goalie Joey Daccord. While the Seattle Kraken prospect had a good showing, the home side was able to finally crack him at 13:02 of the first off a perfect tic-tac-toe passing play off the rush. Nathan Walker moved in across the offensive blue line on the right-wing side and saucered a pass rink-wide to a pinching Tyler Tucker. Tucker's aggressive pinch opened up a lane for Nikita Alexandrov at the bottom of the right circle. Tucker hit Alexandrov with a perfect diagonal pass, and Alexandrov deposited the puck into a wide-open net to make it 1-0.

Joel Hofer had a relatively quiet first period in the Springfield goal crease until Charlotte got its first power play in the final five minutes of the frame. Over those two minutes, the Checkers launched five shots from all angles, but the 21-year-old Hofer was positionally sound to keep the lead intact after 20 minutes.

Unlike the night before, the Thunderbirds were able to find insurance early in the second. Steven Santini fired a perfect two-line pass to set up Mackenzie MacEachern on a 2-on-1 at the offensive zone. After dusting the puck off, MacEachern snapped a wrist shot through Daccord from the right circle for his third goal in three games, making it 2-0 at 4:06 of the period.

Charlotte would not let up offensively, and off a turnover at the Springfield line, Henry Bowlby got a step on the defense and tucked a forehander through Hofer's five-hole to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 2-1 at 13:02 of the second.

That one-goal game proved to be short-lived. Chase Priskie was whistled for closing his hand on the puck near his goal crease, and on their first power play of the night, the T-Birds connected for the fourth time on 11 chances against the Charlotte penalty kill. Scott Perunovich, who so often serves as the distributor on the man advantage, instead took it upon himself to be the shooter, beating Daccord with a perfectly-placed wrist shot over the blocker at 13:59. Perunovich's first professional power-play goal - his second goal overall against Charlotte - made it 3-1 into the second intermission.

The goal snapped a three-game point drought for Perunovich with Nathan Todd and Matthew Peca garnering the assists.

Charlotte would not go quietly into the night in the third, as Max McCormick slammed home a one-timer from Chase Priskie on a Checker power play at the 8:10 mark of the third to make it a 3-2 game. The Checkers' power play earned another chance with less than five minutes to play, but Hofer and the penalty kill stiffened to preserve Springfield's 18th home win of the season, the highest total in the Atlantic. Alexei Toropchenko added an empty netter in the closing seconds for his 10th goal of the season in his 100th AHL game.

The T-Birds' five-game homestand continues next weekend as the Hershey Bears and Providence Bruins pay visits to the MassMutual Center on March 4 and March 5, respectively. Each game will feature a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.

For more information on the Springfield Thunderbirds and to learn more about becoming a 2022-23 ticket member, please visit www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or call (413) 739-GOAL (4625) to speak to a Thunderbirds representative.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 26, 2022


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