GREENVILLE, SC – Tonight the Greenville Road Warriors enter the fourth stage of their seven-game road trip looking for their third consecutive win. It is round two against the Atlantic Division-leading Reading Royals tonight, 24 hours removed from a dramatic Road Warriors win.
RECAPPING THE ACTION:
1/28/11 – GRW 4 – REA 3 SO
The Road Warriors never trailed in last night’s shootout victory, but had to deal with a pesky Reading club that would not roll over and die. The Road Warriors built up a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals from Connor Shields and Shane Harper. The goals extended both players’ point streaks with Shields reaching five in a row and Harper getting to nine consecutive games with a point. Rookie defenseman Lee Baldwin assisted on each goal to earn his first professional multi-point game. The Road Warriors lost the two-goal advantage just past the 15-minute mark as Reading’s Jared Ross pumped a 5-on-3 power play goal past Nic Riopel. A scoreless second period set the stage for a dramatic finish. Casey Haines knotted the score at two 1:59 into the third, but Greenville’s Chris Chappell re-upped the visitors’ lead at 16:34 with his fifth goal of the season. That lead was short-lived, 18 seconds to be exact, as Chris Blight potted his sixth of the season to send the game to overtime. After a scoreless sudden death frame, Riopel turned away three of Reading’s five attempts in the shootout while Jimmy Kilpatrick, Shields, and Harper scored for the Road Warriors. It was Greenville’s second win in three shootouts this season.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR TONIGHT:
The Road Warriors have been experiencing a power outage in their games recently as evidenced by the 1-for-18 mark on the power play in their last five games. Last night’s victory was a bit of a rarity for the Road Warriors as they have found it hard to win when not registering a power play goal. Thanks to their last two victories, though, their record when not scoring on the power play is 10-8-1. On the flip side, a record of 17-6-1 shows when the Road Warriors register at least one power play goal in a game. The Road Warriors are certainly feeling the effects of missing their top two power play scorers in Julien Brouillette (7 PPG) and Justin Bowers (6 PPG). Mark Voakes (5 PPG), Jimmy Kilpatrick (4 PPG) and Blake Parlett (4 PPG) are the top power play producers currently with the club.
One player who might help jog the Road Warriors’ power play is Andrew Carroll who recently returned to the club after playing 14 games with the Peoria Rivermen of the AHL. Despite only playing nine games with the Road Warriors this season, Carroll ranks third on the club, among current skaters, with three power play goals. Last night, Carroll seemed to provide a spark to his linemates Jimmy Kilpatrick and Mark Voakes. Despite not registering a goal, that unit launched a combined 14 shots on Reading goalie Michael Hutchinson. Carroll and Kilpatrick led all Road Warriors shooters with five shots each.
As a whole, the Road Warriors are a young team, but with Wes Cunningham missing last night’s game due to illness the blue line corps could have been considered more green than anything else. Four of the six defenseman that the Road Warriors employed last night were rookies and all four of them are prospects in the New York Rangers’ system. The average age of Lee Baldwin, Sam Klassen, Blake Parlett, and Trevor Glass is just 22 years old with Glass the oldest at 23. Despite their youth, the quartet was productive last night with a combined three assists and a plus-1 rating. On the other end of the spectrum, defenseman and captain T.J. Reynolds is the most experienced Road Warriors with eight seasons of pro hockey under his belt at age 28.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors will return home from a seven-game road trip on Wednesday, February 9 to take on the South Carolina Stingrays at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. The Road Warriors will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with special games and promotions throughout the evening. Group seating remains available for the game and you can call 864-674-PUCK to book your group outing and save off the box office price, receive preferred seating based on availability, and enjoy other great benefits.
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