Charlotte Checkers 3, Ontario Reign 2 (OT)
Final
SOG: ONT 26, CHA 28
PP: ONT 1/2, CHA 0/0
ONT starters: G Jeff Zatkoff, D Kurtis MacDermid, D Zac Leslie, LW Brett Sutter, C Mike Amadio, RW Jonny Brodzinski
CHA starters: G Tom McCollum, D Roland McKeown, D Dennis Robertson, LW Levko Koper, C Andrej Nestrasil, RW Sergey Tolchinsky
FIRST PERIOD
No scoring
SECOND PERIOD
1) CHA – Kris Newbury (10) (Philip Samuelsson, Andrew Miller), 2:59
2) CHA – Andrew Miller (7) (Dennis Robertson, Lucas Wallmark), 12:50
THIRD PERIOD
3) ONT – Sean Backman (12) (Vincent LoVerde, Mike Amadio), 1:02
4) ONT PPG – Jonny Brodzinski (25) (Teddy Purcell, Vincent LoVerde), 16:44
OVERTIME
5) CHA – Connor Brickley (11) (Andrew Poturalski), :31
POSTGAME NOTES
–With the loss, the Reign are now 30-18-10-0 overall and finish the season 2-1-1-0 against Charlotte, which improved to 30-27-4-0. Ontario is now 6-1-1-0 this season against Central Division opponents and 11-9-8-0 on the road.
–Sean Backman netted his 12th of the season to break a seven-game goalless drought.
–Jonny Brodzinski scored his team-leading 25th goal and his 9th power play goal. Brodzinski’s on an eight-game point streak with five goals and six assists in that span.
–Goalie Jeff Zatkoff made his fourth start with Ontario, stopping 25 of 28 shots as his record fell to 1-2-1.
–Ontario dropped to 6-10 in games decided in OT this season, 9-3-5-0 when allowing the first goal and 3-12-4-0 when trailing going into the third.
–Vincent LoVerde had two assists for his sixth multi-point game of the season.
–Teddy Purcell had an assist and now is on a five-game point streak with two goals, five assists in that span.
–The Reign were outshot, 28-26, and were led by Backman’s seven shots on goal.
–Mike Amadio had the secondary assist on the Backman goal and now has five assists in the last four games.
VIDEO
Newbury victimizes his old mates @CheckersHockey 1 @ontarioreign 0 pic.twitter.com/9QquHom7Jl
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 18, 2017
Miller helps Charlotte race ahead @CheckersHockey 2 @ontarioreign 0 pic.twitter.com/lJjeaRy8Vb
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 18, 2017
Backman re-directs it early in 3rd! @CheckersHockey 2 @ontarioreign 1 pic.twitter.com/n4xGVenDt8
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 18, 2017
Brodzinski, off the post and in, ties it late! @ontarioreign 2 @CheckersHockey pic.twitter.com/oquPsr5Z37
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 19, 2017
Brickley with his third goal of the weekend! Checkmate in OT @CheckersHockey 3 @ontarioreign 2 pic.twitter.com/zUbSeW537Q
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 19, 2017
PREGAME NOTES
–Here’s how the Reign were aligned at the start:
Michael Mersch – T.J. Hensick – Teddy Purcell
Brett Sutter – Mike Amadio – Jonny Brodzinski
Sam Herr – Patrick Bjorkstrand – Sean Backman
Daniel Ciampini – Andrew Crescenzi – Joel Lowry
Kurtis MacDermid – Zac Leslie
Alex Lintuniemi – Cameron Schilling
Damir Sharipzianov – Vincent LoVerde
–Justin Auger did not take the ice for warmups. He missed a chunk of the second period on Friday after coming off the ice slowing after blocking a shot by Trevor Carrick. He returned later in the second and finished the game.
–Scratches for Ontario tonight: D Alexx Privitera, D Rob Scuderi, F Paul Bissonnette, F Devin Setoguchi, F Daniel Ciampini, D Craig Wyszomirski and D Zach Trotman and Auger.
–With 11 games remaining, the Reign (30-18-9-0, .605 winning percentage) continue to sit in third in the Pacific Division and their magic number to reach the playoffs is 15.
–The Reign are 2-1-0-0 against Charlotte this season and 4-3-0-0 all-time. Today is their final meeting of the regular season. Mike Amadio and Teddy Purcell each have a goal and three assists for four points against the Checkers. T.J. Hensick is tied for the series lead with three goals, two coming in Friday’s 5-3 loss. Hensick (2G-3A=5) and Purcell (2G-4A=6) are on four-game point streaks.
–Checkers forward Andrew Poturalski is tied for second among AHL rookies with 45 points.
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