Carolina Shuts-Out North Shore for 1st in Team History, 4-0

Winston-Salem, NC –Carolina Shuts-Out North Shore for 1st in Team History, 4-0. 

How It Happened

After a decisive 8-1 win for the Carolina Thunderbirds on Friday night they would play host to the North Shore Knights once again on Saturday. Carolina enters action sitting in 3rd place in the FHL and are on a 2-game winning streak. North Shore for the first time is no longer at the bottom of the FHL standings, being supplanted last night by the Northern Federals team. With just a 6-28 record and no overtime games to their credit the Knights are all but eliminated from playoff contention.

In net for North Shore it would be Michal Marcinek getting the nod. He played in his 1st game on Friday and Saturday marks his first start. The rookie let in 3 goals on Friday and has a 6.92 goals-against average and a .833 save percentage. For Carolina it would be Chris Paulin getting the nod. Sidelined with injury woes, Paulin has only played in 6 games this season for Carolina and sports a 3-3 record with a 4.01 goals-against average and a .867 save percentage.

Just as on Friday night the Thunderbirds would open the scoring in the 1st period. Just 2:35 into the period Chase Lewis would find Ray Boudiette streaking into the offensive zone behind the defense. The rookie Boudiette would shot the patience of a veteran, out-waiting Marcinek and roofing the puck on the back-hand to make it 1-0 Carolina. Lewis and CJ Blaszka would assist on the goal that is Boudiette’s 9th of the season. The goal would occur right in the middle of a 10-0 run of shots for Carolina, including a Thunderbird power-play after Steven Spada would take a delay-of-game minor penalty at 3:21 of the period. The Knights would kill it off and later get a chance of their own, when at 7:05 Jason Berube would take a holding minor. On the power-play the Knights would get their first shot on net of the game, nearly 8 minutes into the contest. Carolina would kill the penalty, then have their 2nd chance of the period when at 17:53 of the frame Josh Newberg would take a hooking minor. Patrick Porkka and Frankie Hart would have nearly a 2-on-0 breakaway on the short-handed chance, but the combination of Paulin and newly acquired defenseman Jay Kenny would stymie the chance. The Knights would kill of the penalty, and the teams would skate into the intermission with the score still 1-0 Carolina. The Thunderbirds would out-shoot the Knights 15-4 during the period.

In the 2nd it would be the Knights who would bring the offensive pressure early, peppering Paulin with shots. A hooking minor by Seth Gustin just 1:27 into the period would put the Knight on the man-advantage for the 2nd time, but Carolina would be up to the task, and get some key help from their goaltender. Carolina however would strike back and find their offensive game once again. At 5:56 of the perio Vincent D’Andrea, a Winston-Salem native playing in his 1st professional game would fire the puck from the point that would would be deflected in by Jason Berube. Joe Cangelosi would assist on the goal. Fallis would continue his strong game and at 10:40 of the period he would tap the puck in past Marcinek to make it 3-0. Artur Drindrozhik would set Fallis up from the near-side corner. Carolina would start to get into penalty trouble however, when at 11:34 Jay Kenny would take a 5-minute major for interference when he would level Frankie Hart in front of the net. The Knights would have plenty of chances on the man-advantage, but Carolina would kill it. Kenny would be set free from the box, take 3 strides and hit Patrick Porkka hard, and be skate right back into the penalty box for another 5-minute major for interference. The penalty was taken just 5 minutes and 3 seconds after Kenny’s 1st. Carolina would do yeoman’s work killing the penalty, and at 19:31 of the 2nd the Knights would be assessed a bench-minor for too many men on the ice, sending the teams to 4-on-4, with just 1 second more left in Kenny’s major penalty. The teams would skate into the locker room with the score still 3-0 Carolina. The Knights would out-shoot the Thunderbirds 16-8 in the period, but still trail 23-20 after 2 on the shot count. The teams would also start the 3rd period skating 4-on-4 for 1:42.

Neither team would score during the 4-on-4 time to begin the 3rd, and except for one score, the teams would skate end-to-end to wrap up the contest. At 10:51 of the period Chase Fallis would score his 2nd of the game, set up in front by D’Andrea, with Lewis earning the secondary assist on the goal. The Thunderbirds would skate to a 4-0 victory, with Chris Paulin earning the 1st shut-out in team history and his 4th win of the season.

In the shut-out win Paulin would stop 26 of 26, while in the loss Marcinek would turn aside 34 of 38.

Notable Stats

Vincent D’Andrea earned his first 2 professional points in only his 1st game with Carolina.

With the attendance on Saturday night the Thunderbirds only need 1,256 more tickets to break the league record of 51,484, set by the Danbury Whalers in the 2012-2013 season. When the Thunderbirds break the record, it will also be in fewer home games.

For Carolina the win is their 4th in a row.

Attendance:2,147.

What’s Next

On Sunday the 25th the Thunderbirds will travel to Danville, Illinois to take on the Dashers. The puck drop is scheduled for 6:00pm EST, and you can follow all the action on the Thunderbirds Radio Network, on WTOB “The Big 980” in Winston-Salem, 980am and 96.3fm. As well the game can be heard on WAME “real country” in Statesville, 550am and 92.9 fm, and online at www.wameradio.com and www.wtob980.com . For more information about the Thunderbirds please call 336-774-GOAL(4625) or log on to www.carolinathunderbirds.com