The Charlotte captain opened the scoring with a singular effort on a slick wrap-around goal early on in regulation and never looked back. He extended Charlotte’s lead early in the third with a nifty breakaway move, then erased Rochester’s comeback hopes minutes later by converting a neutral-zone turnover into a tally to complete his hat trick, the third by a Checker in the last 10 games.
Watch all three of @ZacDalpe22’s goals from tonight and then drop a ? in the replies to congratulate him on his @NovantHealth Hat Trick! pic.twitter.com/I7wzDxuQpg
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) February 5, 2022
Dalpe’s third-period outburst broke open a contest that had been locked down into a defensive duel for much of the middle frame. After the captain and Logan Hutsko struck in the first to give Charlotte an early advantage, the second period featured much more physical play, with the two sides seemingly constantly coming together in scrums. Rochester would strike once more between Dalpe’s second and third tallies, but a Scott Wilson empty-netter would put any rally attempts to rest.
Spencer Knight got called for his second start in the last three games and was once again solid between the pipes. The rookie stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced - including helping his squad shut down all three Rochester power plays - and picked up his second win of the season for Charlotte.
