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Carolina Thunderbirds
menuCarolina Falls in Overtime to Blue Ridge, 5-4
Winston-Salem, NC – The Carolina Thunderbirds fell in overtime to the Blue Ridge Bobcats, 5-4, on Friday evening at the Fairgrounds Arena in front of 2,910 fans for the home opener.
Blue Ridge (2-2-1) opened the scoring for the visitors with less than five minutes remaining in the 1st. Vladislav Vlasov off a deflection found the puck on his stick and beat Carolina (2-1-2) netminder Boris Babik to put the Bobcats up 1-0.
The Thunderbirds found an answer late in the 1st period. Dawson Baker sent a puck to the slot that Gus Ford settled down, spun and gave it to a crashing Roman Kraemer at the back post who slotted home his third goal of the season, tying the game at one heading to the 2nd period.
In the second, both sides traded goals with Savva Smirnov giving the Bobcats the lead again with just under eight minutes remaining before Jiri Pestuka tied it with 1:28 to go on the clock, sending the two sides tied at two to the 3rd period.
In the 3rd, Carolina took its first lead of the night on Pestuka’s second goal of the evening just 56 seconds into the frame beating Greg Hussey low blocker side, but just before the midway mark of the 3rd, Danny Martin on a centering pass from Smirnov tied the game at three.
Following Martin’s goal, Carolina went to the power play and Kraemer, again from a feed from Ford, tapped home a backdoor goal, putting Carolina ahead, 4-3, with six minutes remaining.
With a minute remaining, Blue Ridge pulled Hussey, bringing the extra skater on, and Smirnov got his second goal of the evening on a find across the zone by Denis Radchenko, tying the game at four with 43 seconds left in the 3rd. At the end of regulation, Ford was called for a slash and the Bobcats started overtime with the extra attacker.
Just 38 seconds into overtime, Vlasov ripped home his second of the evening from the far dot, beating Babik on a one-timer, and Blue Ridge completed the comeback over the Thunderbirds in overtime, 5-4.
Carolina and Blue Ridge meet tomorrow evening to finish off four straight matchups at the Fairgrounds Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.