SAN ANTONIO, Texas – It’s funny how fortunes can change, Charlotte could not get a win for five games then the tide turned three home wins and one on the road have brought the smiles back to the faces of Checkers coaches and players. On the road Charlotte have looked great with a record of 10-2-2. With the sweep of Houston on Friday and Saturday it looks like the team has put the home stand problems behind them.
Charlotte got off to a good start against the Rampage with Drayson Bowman scoring the second shorthanded goal of his AHL career at the 3.10 mark. The Rampage tied the game six minutes later through Eric Selleck. Both goalies, Justin Peters for Charlotte and Jacob Markstrom of the Rampage made mistakes with the goals however after that both goalies had terrific games. This was Justin Peter’s third win in a row, he came up big with a 22 save evening.
The winning goal came at 12.36 of the third period when Zach Boychuk and Bobby Sanguinetti worked a nice passing play to give Marc-Andre Gragnani a scoring opportunity that he took well.
The Checkers now return to Time Warner Cable Arena to face Peoria on December 20th and 21st before they take a Christmas break.
NOTES: The Checkers last sweep of a three-in-three set was from Oct. 26-28 against Grand Rapids and Peoria (twice) … Bowman’s goal was the Checkers’ third shorthanded goal of the season, two of which were scored at San Antonio … Bowman now ranks tied for fourth in the AHL with 14 goals and tied for third in the league in shots on goal after firing a game-high six on Sunday … Boychuk extended his assist and point streak to four games (0g, 5a) … Rasmus Rissanen returned to the lineup after missing six games with an upper-body injury … The Checkers’ Justin Soryal and Jared Staal were healthy scratches at forward, while defenseman Justin Faulk sat out to avoid playing three games in three nights … The Checkers improved to 4-0-0 without Faulk in the lineup.
Eddie.Mitchell@ProHockeyNews.com Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
