The Checkers’ Michal Jordan, Justin Peters and Jeff Daniels return to Charlotte with a clean sweep at the AHL All-Star Classic.
Thanks to a goal by Toronto’s Ryan Hamilton with 12 seconds remaining, the trio’s Western Conference squad eked out a 7-6 victory in Monday’s All-Star Game in Providence, R.I. Coupled with its skills competition victory one night earlier, the West won both events for the second consecutive season.
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Representatives from the Checkers, who moved from the Eastern Conference prior to the 2011-12 season, have never been on the losing end of any All-Star event. The East won both the skills competition and the game during Charlotte’s inaugural AHL season in 2010-11.
Peters, who took home the Top Goaltender award at Sunday’s skills competition, could have had an argument to do the same at Monday’s game. Of the event’s six goaltenders, he and Springfield’s Curtis McElhinney were the only ones to allow fewer than two goals. Peters, a second-time All-Star making his first appearance since 2010, stopped 12 of 13 shots in the first period, while McElhinney, who won the award, stopped 15 of 16 in the second.
Peters also joined in on the offense, assisting on the game’s first goal, a breakaway by Houston’s Jason Zucker. In the process, he became just the third goaltender to record an assist in the history of the event.
The West led the game, which ended up as the lowest-scoring All-Star Game since 2005, 4-1 at the conclusion of Peters’ 20 minutes of action.
Jordan, playing in his first career All-Star event, finished the game without a point but ranked second among all defensemen with a plus-2 rating. The third-year pro, who scored on four of his six total attempts on goal at the skills competition, was on the ice for Hamilton’s game-winning goal.
Due to fan voting in the weeks leading up to the event, both Peters and Jordan were in the starting lineup.
The win for Daniels, a commissioner’s selection to coach the game, came in his first career All-Star appearance.
The Checkers, who lead the league with 45 games played, will be among six teams in action as the AHL schedule resumes Thursday. Following a back-to-back road set with the Oklahoma City Barons, they have just seven games in the next 21 days, the lightest schedule of any AHL team in that time.
