Thunderbirds Blank Baton Rouge, 7-0

Winston-Salem, NC – For the second night in a row, the Carolina Thunderbirds scored seven goals while goalie Cody Karpinski pitched a shutout as Carolina routed the Baton Rouge Zydeco, 7-0, Sunday at the Annex.

After a fast start last night, Carolina (31-11-2) struck early again. Josh Koepplinger delivered a centering pass to Joe Kennedy crashing the net, tipping in the game’s first goal at the 4:34 mark of the 1^st period. Carolina doubled the advantage past the midway mark of the period with Roman Kraemer knocking home his 10^th goal of the season giving the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes.

In the second, the Thunderbirds added three more goals. On the power play, Jiri Pestuka tapped home a rebound opportunity past Baton Rouge (10-29-4) netminder Bailey Stephens making it 3-0. Six minutes later, Dawson Baker snapped home his 26^th goal of the campaign at the 10:29 mark making it 4-0. Just over two minutes later, Gus Ford picked up his third point of the evening with a goal at the 12:43 mark building the lead to five, 5-0.

Carolina took that lead into the 3^rd period with netminder Cody Karpinski saving all 19 shots he saw across 40 minutes. In the final 20 minutes, Karpinski saved six shots while Ford and Chris Ciolek found the back of the net as the Thunderbirds rolled to a 7-0 shutout victory over the Zydeco.

Ford picked up five points on the evening with two goals and three assists while Karpinski recorded his first shutout in the FPHL since December 14^th, 2018, saving all 25 shots he saw. Baker has now scored at least a goal in his last nine contests and has 10 goals over the nine games.

Carolina returns to action on Friday evening against the Blue Ridge Bobcats. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. from Wytheville, Virginia.