Carolina Handles Venom, 4-1

Winston-Salem, NC – With first place on the line in the Continental Division, the Carolina Thunderbirds rolled to a 4-1 victory over HC Venom on Friday evening at the Fairgrounds Arena in front of 2,850 fans.

Carolina (19-7-3) jumped out to a fast start at home. Roman Kraemer found the tape of Gus Ford who weaved his way into the attacking zone and ripped home his 12th goal of the year putting the Thunderbirds ahead just 3:25 in. HC Venom (7-14-2) responded shortly after with Marquis Grant-Mentis snapping home his third of the season with 10:02 remaining in the 1st period, tying the game at one.

As the 1st started to wind down, the Thunderbirds pressure became too much. Danyk Drouin delivered a feed through the slot to Jiri Pestuka who rifled home his ninth of the year, putting Carolina head 2-1.

The Thunderbirds took that lead into the dressing room and in the 2nd, Jon Buttitta deflected home a slap shot from Pestuka on the power play doubling Carolina’s advantage 3-1, with 15:52 remaining in the 2nd. Thunderbirds netminder Mario Cavaliere stopped any chance the Venom could muster in the 2nd, and with 2:23 left in the period, Dmitri Selyutin ripped home his second goal as a Thunderbirds on a find from James Farmer, giving Carolina a 4-1 lead going to the 3rd.

Across the last 20 minutes, the Thunderbirds controlled play and did not give the Venom many opportunities, finishing off a 4-1 victory. In the win, Salak and Farmer both tallied a pair of assists while Pestuka finished the night with a goal and an assist. Cavaliere picked up his 11th win this year saving 30 out of 31 shots.

The Thunderbirds and Venom meet for game two this weekend on Saturday evening in Winston-Salem.  Puck drop is slated for 6:05 p.m. from the Fairgrounds Arena.