CHARLOTTE, NC – 13,102 fans were in attendance Saturday night for Charlottes annual Pink in the Rink event that raised $17,250 for Charlotte charities. The record crowd saw Charlotte take three out of a possible four points from Oklahoma City Barons but they lost the game in a shootout 3-2.
Sean Dolan put the Checkers ahead in the first period. Dolan who came to Charlotte from ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays is four games short of the 25 that he will play in his tryout contract. Once he has played 25 games a decision will be made whether to release him, or have him sign another tryout or AHL standard contract.
Recent trade acquisition, Evgenii Dadonov had already set-up Dolan in the first period he then found Mathieu Roy in plenty of space to give Charlotte a 2-1 lead. The defenseman has now played 15 games for Charlotte; he was traded to the Hurricanes from the Florida Panthers and then sent down to the Checkers, where he seems to be enjoying his hockey.
Charlotte had several opportunities in both the third and overtime periods that they could not put away. In the shootout Justin Shugg was the only Checkers player to score while Josh Green of the Barons beat John Muse to give Oklahoma the win.
Charlotte’s John Muse made 37 saves, while his counterpart David LeNeveu of the Barons finished with 36 saves. LeNeveu had allowed five of Charlotte’s six goals the previous night, for the return game he showed why he is the number one goalie in the AHL.
With only 20 games to go in the regular season, Charlotte leads the Mid West Division by four points from the Chicago Wolves. The Checkers next two games are on the road when they visit the Lake Erie Monsters on March 3 and 4.
EddieMItchell@ProHockeyNews.com
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