New Day, Same Thunder

Winston-Salem, NC - It would take an all hands on deck effort from a unique Dasher’s roster to compete with Carolina in front of a near sell-out this past Saturday. Unfortunately, this 60 minutes would be more of the same as last night, with one of the few positives being Dashers rookie Yosuke Jumonji earning his first pro goal shorthanded.

Following one of the most forgettable losses of the season last night, the Dashers were eager to turn the page for their final meeting with the Continental’s best Carolina Thunderbirds. Period 1 Carolina picked up right where they left off with the offensive pressure, peppering Ryall Purdy from every possible angle. It took just 3:36 for Gus Ford to open the scoring from in tight, finishing for his team leading 55th point of the season. Not backing down, just over 3 minutes later Zach White took a pass in the slot and whipped it over Purdy’s shoulder to double the lead, his fourth of the weekend. It looked like the game was going to get out of hand when moments later Zac Horn was sent to the box for a trip. Battling with the top ranked power-play in the league, you never anticipate good things are going to happen. But against all odds, the Dashers forced a turnover with a strong forecheck. Zach Slinger led Dashers rookie Yosuke Jumonji with a beautiful pass for a breakaway. Jumonji got the reigning goaltender of the year and Fed’s pinnacle to bite before backhanding one into the net for his first professional goal. This was the first shorthanded goal surrendered by the Thunderbirds all season long. Taking exception, they cranked up the heat on Ryall Purdy. Purdy continued to make save after save, and faced a season high 30 shots in a single period. Not another got by him, and the Dashers scampered to the locker room trailing 2-1 while being outshot 30-6 through the opening 20.

Period 2 is when the floodgates opened. Carolina scored all 5 goals in the period, while outshooting the visitors in the frame 26-7. First it was Roman Kraemer nabbing his 5th goal in 3 games at the 3:40 mark. About 2.5 minutes later, Jiri Pestuka ripped a shot over the shoulder of Purdy to extend the lead to 3. Pestuka is currently 15th all time in league scoring with 335+ points, and leads the team in shot percentage. The Dashers made the mistake of giving him just a little bit of room to shoot and he made them pay. Less than 5 minutes later, Pestuka added another mark and in the blink of an eye it was 5-1. Another 2 minutes barely crawled by before 3rd year Thunderbird Joe Kennedy potted another goal from the point for his second of the weekend and fifth of the season to push the score to 6-1. The final blow was less than 2 minutes after the previous, with Danyk Drouin finishing a long possession with a mark from the spot to make it 7-1. With the total shot totals at 56-13 and the score 7-1, the Dashers would look to create positives to build on in the final 20.

Period 3 was very similar to yesterday, with low energy and effort paired with minimal scoring. The Dashers would actually outshoot Carolina 13-8 in the final frame, but each of the two goals scored were Thunderbirds tallies. Less than 5 minutes in, Jan Salak posted his name to the scoresheet with a wrister to make 8-1. And then the final punch was James Farmer scoring on an odd man opportunity for his third of the year to cement the score at 5-1. There were a few short fights inside of 5 minutes, but other than that it was a game with minimal physicality, and another one the Dashers will be thrilled to put behind them. The final shot totals were 64-26 in favor of Carolina. Ryall Purdy made 55 saves while Mario Cavaliere earned his 16th win of the season.

The Dashers fall to 1-34-3 with 18 games remaining. They will travel to Binghamton next weekend for a Friday/Saturday slate with both games beginning at 6:00 CST. Meanwhile Carolina improves to 30-7-3, and will have a 2 game date with Watertown next weekend.