No Irish Luck for 'Blades as Checkers win 6-1
March 17, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
CHARLOTTE, NC - The Florida Everblades (38-20-5) ended their season series with the Charlotte Checkers (34-23-3) in disappointing fashion as Charlotte collected three power play goals and two short-handed goals en-route to a 6-1 win on Saturday at Charlotte Bobcats Arena in front of a crowd of 9,714. The power play proved important in this contest as the Checkers used three 5-on-3 power play goals to set the tone. The game remained scoreless until the late stages of the first period when the Everblades were whistled for a four-minute high sticking penalty. During the process of that penalty, the âBlades were whistled for another minor penalty, setting up Charlotte's first two goals. Hannu Pikkaranien scored his first goal of the season at 17:27 of the period to open the scoring. Just 19 seconds later with the Checkers still holding a 5-on-3 power play Mark Lee blistered a slap shot from the right circle past Everblades goaltender Jamie Holden.
The game remained 2-0 into the second period when, midway throught, the Everblades were able to get on the scoreboard. Adam Taylor was able to take a pass by Vince Bellissimo from behind the net and slip it inside the left post at 10:47 to trim the lead to one. Steve Czech collected the second assist on Taylor's 21st goal of the season. Charlotte however battled back to regain their two goal lead in similar fashion to how they scored their first period goals. After the Everblades were again whistled for a four-minute high sticking penalty, the Everblades took an second penalty and on the ensuing 5-on-3 power play Kenton Smith's shot from the top of the right circle found the back of the net at 16:30.
Charlotte continued their strong game, adding a trio of third period goals to increase their lead to 6-1. Bruce Graham opened a 4-1 lead for the Checkers scoring their lone even strength goal at 2:18 of the period for his 31st goal of the season. Charlotte closed out the scoring with a pair of short-handed goals. The first coming at the 5:07 mark when Pikkarainen collected his second goal of the night with a shot from the high slot on a 3-on-2 rush, and the second coming with two minutes remaining in regulation on Mike Ouellette's 14th goal of the season. The two short-handed goals were the 13th and 14th for Charlotte this season and the 11th and 12th allowed by the Everblades.
In net Weslund took care of the rest to increase his record to 13-5-1 while Holden suffered the loss allowing the six goals on 37 shots, dropping his record to 1-2-0.
On the power play, the Everblades finished the game 1-for-10, while the Checkers closed out the game 3-for-8.
The Florida Everblades, proud affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers, return to action on Sunday, March 18 when they travel Gwinnett to take on the Gladiators at 4:00 p.m. from the Arena at Gwinnett Center. Florida Everblades group and individual game tickets & mini-plans are now available! Reserve your seat for all the exciting action today by calling (239) 948-7825. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on group ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.
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