Bolstered by two goals from Chris Terry and Sean Dolan's first American Hockey League tally, the Charlotte Checkers tied a season high with six goals Tuesday night to beat the Grand Rapids Griffins 6-5 and complete a sweep in their two-game series at Time Warner Cable Arena.
The Checkers, who overcame an early 2-0 deficit, scored five unanswered goals and chased Griffins goaltender Tom McCollum in the second period. Grand Rapids nearly sent the game into overtime, but the Checkers strengthened their hold on first place in the Midwest Division.
Mike Murphy made 31 saves in his sixth consecutive start for Charlotte.
After a 4-2 loss Sunday in Charlotte, the Griffins (15-16-4-3) came out firing and caught the Checkers flat-footed. It took nearly five minutes before the home team took its first shot.
"I don't think either coach will be overly excited with their defensive effort, but I thought the first 10, 12 minutes we weren't ready to play," Charlotte coach Jeff Daniels said. "It was 2-0, but it easily could have been 4-0 or 5-0.
"It was one of those games that went back and forth, and luckily we came out on top."
Charlotte (23-14-2-2) seemed to wake up after the Griffins' second goal.
Grand Rapids scored twice late in the second period to close to 5-4, but Zac Dalpe restored Charlotte's comfortable lead 7 minutes, 55 seconds into the third period.
"We kind of let off the gas there a little bit and let them back in," Terry said. "Obviously, we never want it that close."
The Checkers now will head off on a three-game road trip through Abbotsford and Norfolk. They will return home Jan. 26 against Rockford.
|
Grand Rapids |
2 |
2 |
1 |
- |
5 |
|
Charlotte |
2 |
3 |
1 |
- |
6 |
First Period-1, Grand Rapids, Tatar 11 (Coetzee, Aubry), 2:39. 2, Grand Rapids, Aubry 4 (Pare, Ehrhardt), 5:40. 3, Charlotte, Sanguinetti 1 (Bowman, Dalpe), 15:48 (PP). 4, Charlotte, Terry 9 (Matsumoto, Bowman), 18:15. Penalties-Murray, C (interference), 8:24; Brunnstrom, GR (goaltender interference), 10:55; Lashoff, GR (roughing), 13:37.
Second Period-5, Charlotte, Terry 10 (Dolan, Jordan), 0:18. 6, Charlotte, Bowman 9 (Matsumoto, Sanguinetti), 2:38 (pp). 7, Charlotte, Dolan 1 (Blanchard), 3:38. 8, Grand Rapids, Lashoff 6 (Andersson, Brunnstrom), 13:02. 9, Grand Rapids, Minard 1 (Brunnstrom, Exelby), 17:26. Penalties-Nyquist, GR (tripping), 1:39; Exelby, GR (fighting major), 6:19; Soryal, C (fighting major), 6:19; Nyquist, GR (slashing), 6:47; Lashoff, GR (slashing), 10:50.
Third Period-10, Charlotte, Dalpe 9 7:55. 11, Grand Rapids, Minard 2 (Brunnstrom), 17:46. Penalties-None.
Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 13-12-11-36. Charlotte 10-17-9-36. Goalies-Grand Rapids, McCollum 6-4-0 (15 shots-10 saves); MacDonald (21-20); Charlotte, Murphy 15-10-1 (36-31). Att.-4,061 (at Charlotte).
