CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Johnstown Chiefs Southern road swing took another ugly turn on Saturday night as the Charlotte Checkers pelted the visitors 6-2.
The Chiefs and goaltender Kris Mayotte have allowed 13 goals against in two losses to the Checkers on consecutive nights.
The road doesn’t get easier today as Johnstown visits the defending Kelly Cup champion South Carolina Stingrays to finish the road trip.
Charlotte built a 3-0 advantage on Saturday as Devin Di-Diomete scored at 4:15, Daniel Tkaczuk netted a short-handed breakaway goal at 12:34 of the first, and Tyler Doig converted a power play 13:34 into the second.
The Chiefs got back into the game via Dan Collins’ power-play tally at 17:24. But Johns-town’s Trevor Hendrikx took a kneeing penalty at 18:07, and Collins was called for hooking at 19:08. The Checkers capitalized on the ensuing 5-on-3 power play as Michel Leveille converted with 10 seconds left in the middle period to make it 4-1.
The Chiefs grabbed the momentum in the third period.
Russ Sinkewich beat Frank Doyle 1:35 into the third.
Johnstown took the play to the Checkers throughout the first 10 minutes, frequently pressuring Doyle with quality scoring chances. But Johns-town defenseman Michael Couch was whistled for tripping at 10:09, taking some of the momentum away from his team and reigniting Charlotte. Former Chief Kenny Roche converted the power play at 11:06.
Julien Brouillette scored at 16:13 to make it 6-2.
The Chiefs outshot the Checkers 18-10 in the final period but only could solve Doyle once. Charlotte posted a 34-33 overall shots advantage.
Johnstown converted once in four power-play chances. Charlotte went 3-for-5 on the power play.
The Chiefs will try to avoid a weekend sweep while going against a perennial league contender in one of the toughest buildings for visiting teams to play.
