Thunderbirds Blank Wolves, 4-0

Winston-Salem, NC – After a tight contest on Friday evening, the Carolina Thunderbirds scored three goals in the 2nd period while Mario Cavaliere stopped all 24 shots he saw on the night to shutout the Watertown Wolves, 4-0, on Saturday evening at the Fairgrounds Arena in front of 3,105 fans.

Carolina (12-1-3) opened the scoring again late in the 1st period. With four minutes remaining in the frame, Lane King got a return pass from Danyk Drouin at the top of the far dot and snapped home his second goal of the weekend putting the Thunderbirds ahead, 1-0, with 3:58 left in the 1st.

The Thunderbirds started the 2nd period on the power play and Gus Ford made Watertown (11-5-1) pay. Jon Buttitta tipped a pass to Ford who outwaited Anton Borodkin on the forehand wrapping home a goal, doubling the advantage for the Thunderbirds, 2-0, just inside 90 seconds into the period. Less than two minutes later Andrey Simonchyk was left alone on the far side and blasted home his first goal of his professional career to push Carolina ahead, 3-0. The home side added one more goal in the period from Roman Kraemer with 10:25 remaining, and Carolina cruised to a 4-0 shutout victory.

Mario Cavaliere saw nine shots in the 1st period, six shots in the 2nd period and another nine shots in the 3rd on the way to his third shutout this season and Carolina’s fourth shutout in total on the year.

 With the win, the Thunderbirds have now won nine straight games dating back to November 15th and continue their six game homestand next Friday against the Blue Ridge Bobcats. Puck drop is slated for 7:35 p.m. from the Fairgrounds Arena.