CHARLOTTE, NC – In their final meeting this season, the Checkers shook off a rough start to upend the Admirals in a shootout. The Admirals came roaring out of the gates with two tallies in the first two minutes of play to put Charlotte in an early hole, but the home team responded with a pair of rapid-fire strikes just a minute later, with newcomer Danny Kristo sniping one in 24 seconds before Dennis Robertson blasted a puck from the blue line in. The first period scoring frenzy wasn’t over, however. Fellow newcomer Philip Samuelsson banked a shot in off Admirals netminder Marek Mazanec from below the goal line later in the frame, but the lead was again erased thanks to a quick backhander from Justin Florek to even the score at three before the first period had even ended. That would end starter Alex Nedeljkovic’s night, as Daniel Altshuller would replace the rookie following Milwaukee’s third goal. The visitors continued their reign of terror on the man advantage from yesterday with another power-play goal in the middle frame to garner a one-goal lead heading into the final 20 minutes. The Checkers struggled to mount pressure in the third, only registering two shots during the frame, but were able to make one of those count. Leading scorer Andrew Poturalski banged home a rebound out front to knot the game and eventually send things to overtime. |
Each team was awarded a power play in the extra frame but no goals resulted, and the game would move on to be decided in the shootout. Matt White broke the ice in the third round with a goal, but Kristo stepped up with a quick wrister to keep the home squad alive. Mike Ribeiro would give the Admirals another shot at victory three rounds later, but again the Checkers responded, this time courtesy of Sergey Tolchinsky. Finally, in the bottom of the eighth round, Kris Newbury wired a rocket of a wrist shot off the right post and in to bring the game to a close, sealing two points in the standings for Charlotte.
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