Patrick Dwyer's Hat Trick Leads Checkers to Sweep of San Antonio
After a slow start, the Checkers erupted late to trample the San Antonio Rampage 5-2 behind a hat trick from Patrick Dwyer.

The veteran forward opened the scoring early in the middle frame, by tucking a puck just inside the near post, then followed it up less than four minutes later with a backdoor tap in off a no-look feed from Phil Di Giuseppe. Dwyer then completed the hat trick, his first in over eight years, by forcing a turnover off a center-ice faceoff and cashing in on the empty net to seal Charlotte’s victory.

Helping to propel Dwyer’s offensive outburst were his linemates Lucas Wallmark and Di Giuseppe, who each marked three point nights of their own, including picking up both of the helpers on Dwyer’s first two tallies.

After Dwyer put the Checkers up by two midway through the second, the Rampage pushed back, cutting the lead down to one goal with 40 minutes in the books. It took a bit of time for the home team to extend their advantage back out, but they did just that in the waning minutes of regulation, pumping in three tallies in the span of less than three minutes, breaking the Rampage down and furthering Charlotte’s playoff position.

QUOTES

Head coach Ulf Samuelsson on his team’s play:
“I thought as the game went along we got better and better. It’s been a tough schedule with travel and guys really squeezed it all out of their system tonight. I was really excited with the game today.”

Samuelsson on San Antonio:
“I’m really surprised at the amount of wins they have because they play really hard, they have good structure in the team and it’s a hard team to play against. I’m surprised by their results.”

Sameulsson on moving forward to face Texas:
“We’ll take a day off tomorrow and start preparing for Texas on Friday. It’s a fast team and we’ll have to be ready with a high pace. It’s going to be a little more challenging as far as defending rushes.”

Patrick Dwyer on his hat trick:
“I had one back in Albany – it had to be 2007 or 08. It might not be my first, but it still feels amazing.”

Dwyer on the goals:
“The first one was in a scrum and I was able to get it and shoot it, the second was Phil making a spectacular spin-o-rama pass and I just had to dunk it, and the third I had a couple of shots at it and finally got it to go.”

Dwyer on chemistry:
“There might be areas we’re still trying to find solid connections and chemistry, but Ulf’s got an idea of what he wants to do coming down the stretch when we do get everybody back. We’re gelling and coming into our own, and that’s good at this time of year.”

Phil Di Giuseppe on his line’s success:
“Dwyer was finding pucks in the blue paint tonight. It looks easy, but it’s hard getting to those areas. Wally was getting the puck to me and making good plays in the zone, and Dwyer was cashing in.”

Di Giuseppe on the difference on the team from when he was last here:
“It happens with most teams, but the guys are more comfortable around each other and closer, having been together for extended months. When I was here before, we lost a few games in a row and were out of the playoff push, and now two month later we’re back in. It’s a lot more fun coming to the rink every day and competing, so it’s a lot of fun right now.”

NOTES

With five games to play, the Checkers now lead Cleveland by one point with equal games played in the race for the Central Division’s final playoff spot … Dwyer’s last hat trick was on March 21, 2009, with Albany. This was his first multi-goal game of the season … Dwyer’s linemates, Wallmark (1g,2a) and Di Giuseppe (3a), who were playing their second games since joining the team from the NHL’s Hurricanes on Monday, also had three-point nights … This was the Checkers’ second hat trick of the season (Matt Tennyson on Nov. 11) and first at home since Jan. 24, 2014 (Zach Boychuk) … Defenseman Roland McKeown and Dennis Robertson each posted plus-3 ratings … Wallmark’s 24th goal of season set a team record for a rookie ... The Checkers finished the season series with San Antonio at 2-2-0, with the home team winning each game … Charlotte has won seven of its last eight home games and is now 25-10-1 at Bojangles’ Coliseum this season … Andrew Miller and Aleksi Saarela each saw their five-game point streaks come to an end … Tom McCollum improved to 10-2-1 on the season … Forwards Kyle Hagel, Erik Karlsson and Danny Kristo and goaltender Michael Leighton missed the game due to injury … Forwards Hudson Elynuik, Levko Koper and Kris Newbury and defensemen Jake Bean and Tyler Ganly were the other scratches.

UP NEXT

The Checkers now turn their sites to their final home series of the season, which kicks off Saturday at 6 p.m. against Texas.