SPRINGFIELD — Closing out the regular season, the Springfield Thunderbirds struggled to contain the Charlotte Checkers’ offense in the second period, losing 5-0 on Saturday night.
With an eye toward the playoffs, head coach Steve Konowalchuk opted to rest his veterans, including captain Matthew Peca, Hugh McGing and Nikita Alexandrov. With the veterans out, the Thunderbirds had some younger faces placed into the lineup.
With the changes, Zach Dean was moved from center to the wing on the top line with Dalibor Dvorsky at center.
“(Dean) is versatile, he can play both positions,” Konowalchuk said. “Obviously last little bit here we’ve tried a couple different things to just try out different chemistry and different things we might do in the playoffs.”
Goaltender Vadim Zherenko stood tall in net for the Thunderbirds after not playing on Friday for the first period. To end the period, the Checkers put sustained pressure on the goaltender, but Zherenko made big saves. With 1:30 left in the period, the puck was turned over to Eamon Powell. Staying with Powell as he skated down, Zherenko made a leg save to block the puck away. Charlotte came back with a shot from Nick Zabaneh but Zherenko made another big leg save.
Zherenko finished his Saturday night with 25 saves.
The second period flipped the game for Charlotte, scoring three goals through just over 14 minutes of play. The first two goals came just 34 second apart by Riley Hughes and and Brett Chorske.
Chorske’s goal was on a pass as Chroske skated down the middle towards the net. The Minnesota native settled the puck before sending a wrist shot past Zherenko to open up scoring.
34 seconds later, Zabaneh attempted a wrist shot that Hughes was in the front of the crease to clean up. With a screen on Zherenko, the puck trickled into the net before the goaltender could react to bring Charlotte up by two goals.
To add some insurance, Sandis Vilmanis netted his second goal of the series.
The third period wasn’t much better for the Thunderbirds as more goals were piled on. Wilmer Skoog netted a puck on a redirection to extend Charlotte’s lead to four goals.
Amherst native John Leonard had a team leading nine shots, one hitting the crossbar during a power play late in the third period. After struggling to break through on the scoresheet, Leonard found the back of the net with 21 seconds left in the game. After Zherenko fell to the ground as he saved Leonard’s first shot, he regained the puck. Despite Scott Harrington’s efforts to block the puck, the Amherst native’s next shot went in for a goal.
Springfield got out to a stronger start compared to its game against Charlotte on Friday. The Thunderbirds played a more even game through the 20 minutes, generating chances on Checkers goaltender Ken Appleby.
“Overall, I’m proud of our guy’s regular season, I told them that,” Konowalchuk said. “It’s a long season, there’s a lot of different things that go into an American League season. I’m real proud of out guys. We should be confident, we should be feeling good.”
A majority of Springfield’s 10 shots came on the power play when Mike Benning was whistled for tripping. Michael Buchinger added two quality shots on Appleby, putting pressure on Charlotte. One of Buchinger’s shots allowed Jakub Stancl to grab the puck near the blue line. Stancl tried to make his way around the goaltender, but Appleby stayed with the forward to eliminate the chance.
Due to the Providence Bruins’ win in regulation to the Bridgeport Islanders and Springfield locked into the No. 6 seed, the Bruins will be the Thunderbirds first opponent in the Calder Cup playoffs. The first game will be on the road in Providence on Wednesday, April 23 with puck drop set for 7:05 p.m.
Springfield has totaled seven wins while grabbing nine points against Providence in the team’s 12 matchups.
“It’s net battles,” Konowalchuk said on what works well against the Bruins. “They’re a team that puts puck on net. You’ve got to be good in their D-zone. You’ve got to be good at eliminating second chances. Same offensively, getting pucks to the net and getting inside and battling there.”
SPRINGFIELD — Closing out the regular season, the Springfield Thunderbirds struggled to contain the Charlotte Checkers’ offense in the second period, losing 5-0 on Saturday night.
With an eye toward the playoffs, head coach Steve Konowalchuk opted to rest his veterans, including captain Matthew Peca, Hugh McGing and Nikita Alexandrov. With the veterans out, the Thunderbirds had some younger faces placed into the lineup.
With the changes, Zach Dean was moved from center to the wing on the top line with Dalibor Dvorsky at center.
“(Dean) is versatile, he can play both positions,” Konowalchuk said. “Obviously last little bit here we’ve tried a couple different things to just try out different chemistry and different things we might do in the playoffs.”
Goaltender Vadim Zherenko stood tall in net for the Thunderbirds after not playing on Friday for the first period. To end the period, the Checkers put sustained pressure on the goaltender, but Zherenko made big saves. With 1:30 left in the period, the puck was turned over to Eamon Powell. Staying with Powell as he skated down, Zherenko made a leg save to block the puck away. Charlotte came back with a shot from Nick Zabaneh but Zherenko made another big leg save.
Zherenko finished his Saturday night with 25 saves.
The second period flipped the game for Charlotte, scoring three goals through just over 14 minutes of play. The first two goals came just 34 second apart by Riley Hughes and and Brett Chorske.
Chorske’s goal was on a pass as Chroske skated down the middle towards the net. The Minnesota native settled the puck before sending a wrist shot past Zherenko to open up scoring.
34 seconds later, Zabaneh attempted a wrist shot that Hughes was in the front of the crease to clean up. With a screen on Zherenko, the puck trickled into the net before the goaltender could react to bring Charlotte up by two goals.
To add some insurance, Sandis Vilmanis netted his second goal of the series.
The third period wasn’t much better for the Thunderbirds as more goals were piled on. Wilmer Skoog netted a puck on a redirection to extend Charlotte’s lead to four goals.
Amherst native John Leonard had a team leading nine shots, one hitting the crossbar during a power play late in the third period. After struggling to break through on the scoresheet, Leonard found the back of the net with 21 seconds left in the game. After Zherenko fell to the ground as he saved Leonard’s first shot, he regained the puck. Despite Scott Harrington’s efforts to block the puck, the Amherst native’s next shot went in for a goal.
Springfield got out to a stronger start compared to its game against Charlotte on Friday. The Thunderbirds played a more even game through the 20 minutes, generating chances on Checkers goaltender Ken Appleby.
“Overall, I’m proud of our guy’s regular season, I told them that,” Konowalchuk said. “It’s a long season, there’s a lot of different things that go into an American League season. I’m real proud of out guys. We should be confident, we should be feeling good.”
A majority of Springfield’s 10 shots came on the power play when Mike Benning was whistled for tripping. Michael Buchinger added two quality shots on Appleby, putting pressure on Charlotte. One of Buchinger’s shots allowed Jakub Stancl to grab the puck near the blue line. Stancl tried to make his way around the goaltender, but Appleby stayed with the forward to eliminate the chance.
Due to the Providence Bruins’ win in regulation to the Bridgeport Islanders and Springfield locked into the No. 6 seed, the Bruins will be the Thunderbirds first opponent in the Calder Cup playoffs. The first game will be on the road in Providence on Wednesday, April 23 with puck drop set for 7:05 p.m.
Springfield has totaled seven wins while grabbing nine points against Providence in the team’s 12 matchups.
“It’s net battles,” Konowalchuk said on what works well against the Bruins. “They’re a team that puts puck on net. You’ve got to be good in their D-zone. You’ve got to be good at eliminating second chances. Same offensively, getting pucks to the net and getting inside and battling there.”
