ROCKFORD, Ill – Charlotte went 3-0-1 on the season with a 2-1 win over Rockford IceHogs on Saturday night. On paper a tough opening schedule for the Checkers, with nine games on the road is proving to be anything but. Drayson Bowman continued his great early season form scoring both goals for Charlotte and Dan Ellis in the goal made 35 saves. This was Ellis’s first AHL win in five years. Bowman has now scored three goals on this road trip with Zac Dalpe providing the primary assists.
In the second period, Bowman beat IceHogs goalie Carter Hutton with a terrific shot from the right circle to give Charlotte the lead. In the third period, he added to the score when he knocked in a Dalpe rebound. Hutton finished with 40 saves for Rockford, while in the Charlotte goal Dan Ellis made 35.
Rockford’s goal came from an error by Ellis when a harmless shot from Ryan Stanton went through his pads and was slammed home by Swedish forward Marcus Kruger. Rockford had the puck in the net a few minutes later but the goal was disallowed for interference. After this shaky period Ellis came up big with some solid saves especially during two late penalty kills.
With 1.11 left in the game, Michal Jordan received a penalty for slashing. The IceHogs put on an extra forward to replace goalie Hutton they were unable to tie the game giving Charlotte six-for-six on penalty kills for the evening.
Defenseman Justin Faulk was injured in the 4-3 win in Milwaukee with a muscle strain, due to the injury, both Brett Bellemore and Justin Kruger, who had been taking turns as healthy extra played for the first time this season.
If there was any criticism of the Checkers performance it would be in the power-play department, which failed to convert on almost three minutes with a two-man advantage.
Tonight, Charlotte faces Rockford for a second time, they now have five road games left before returning home for the season home opener on Sunday November 4 at 3pm.
Eddie.Mitchell@ProHockeyNews.com
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