Published: November 21, 2009 12:18 am      

Checkers, Schepke top Chiefs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Johnstown Chiefs were defeated by the Charlotte Checkers 7-4 on Friday evening at the Time Warner Cable Arena to begin their three-game southern road trip.

The loss dropped Johnstown’s record to 3-7-3 on the season.

The Chiefs’ offense was on track early as it cracked Miika Wiikman’s guard just 1:50 into the game.

Working on the power play, Ryan Menei took the feed on a slap-pass from Jarrett Konkle and quickly buried it for his second of the season.

Former Chief Kenny Roche tied it for Charlotte at 3:35, and then Matt Schepke gave the home team its first lead at 6:43 with a shorthanded marker.

Johnstown’s power play came right back with an answer, this time with Jim McKenzie netting his fourth of the season at 7:21.

Connor Shields and Troy Schwab provided the helpers.

Johnstown’s power play continued to look unstoppable in the second period as it provided two more tallies.

At 5:16, Shields took a feed from Konkle, split the Checkers’ defense and proceeded to undress Wiikman with a deke to the backhand and slide it into the net.

Konkle followed that with his third point of the night with his own power play goal. It was a high, hard wrist shot that sailed over Wiikman’s blocker at 17:41.

The Chiefs’ power play goals were wrapped around Roche’s second of the game for Charlotte at 13:41.

In the third period, Charlotte’s offense proved to be too strong for the Chiefs to overcome.

Schepke scored twice, at 5:38 and 18:19 to pick up the hat trick, while Leveille added his ninth of the season at 10:17.

The true turning point of the game came when Wiikman turned aside McKenzie on a shorthanded breakaway with about seven minutes left in regulation.

Kris Mayotte made 30 saves in the loss.

The Chiefs went 4-for-8 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.