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It took 11 skaters apiece Wednesday night to resolve the Charlotte Checkers' ECHL home game against the Florida Everblades.
Eleven? That's how long it took for Billy Sauer of the Checkers to stop a shot before a teammate could beat Chris Beckford-Tseu during a prolonged shootout.
Usually five skaters can settle a shootout, but no one could break the deadlock until Julien Brouillette netted the decisive puck after coming up empty on four shots during regular and overtime.
"I thought we battled hard tonight," coach Derek Wilkinson said. "We need to improve our special teams, but I thought the guys put out a gritty performance and ultimately were the better team."
Though Charlotte killed off all five Everblades power-play chances, the Checkers came up empty on 10 chances with a manpower advantage.
The seesaw battle was sent to overtime when rookie forward Brandon Buck beat Sauer with 17 minutes gone in the third period.
Rookie Matt Schepke scored twice for Charlotte, sandwiching a Florida goal, during a 2-minute, 17-second span during the second period.
The Checkers now have two wins in three tries against Florida this season, with another to follow at 7 tonight at Time Warner Cable Arena.
|
Florida |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
- |
3 |
|
Charlotte |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
- |
4 |
First Period-None. Penalties: Duffy, F (holding), 11:53; Roche, C (tripping), 14:05; Kinley, F (tripping), 18:26.
Second Period-1, Charlotte, Schepke 1 (Roche, Reynolds), 13:34. 2, Florida, Micflikier 3 (Gajic, Hennigar), 15:16. 3, Charlotte, Schepke 2 (Carroll, Roche), 15:51. Penalties: Graham, C (slashing ), 8:55; Thelen, F (hooking), 10:23; Buck, F (holding), 19:38; Hennigar, F (roughing), 20:00; Doig, C (roughing), 20:00; Nightingale, C (slashing ), 20:00.
Third Period-4, Florida, Gajic 1 (Micflikier, Buck), 2:41. 5, Charlotte, Lawrence 1 (Nightingale), 16:35. 6, Florida, Buck 4 (Micflikier, Hennigar), 17:00. Penalties: Hotham, F (holding), 4:18; Hoffman, F (fighting major), 7:33; Metcalf, F (slashing), 7:33; Reynolds, C (fighting major), 7:33; Metcalf, F (roughing), 9:42; Thelen, F (hooking), 13:08; Taylor, C (interference), 18:49.
Overtime-None. Penalties: Reynolds, C (roughing), 0:38; Metcalf, F (hooking), 4:33; Zanon, F (slashing), 4:44.
Shots on goal-Florida 11-15-12-4-0-42; Charlotte 5-15-13-5-1-39. Goalies-Florida, Beckford-Tseu 0-1-0-1 (38 shots-35 saves). Charlotte, Sauer 1-0-1-0 (42-39). Att.-2,831 (at Charlotte).
