Series Preview: Last Regular Season Road Trip

The Port Huron Prowlers will set out on their final true road trek of the regular season this weekend when they visit the Carolina Thunderbirds. Both teams are in tight battles jockeying for position in their respective divisions.

The Prowlers are winners of nine-straight after crushing the Motor City Rockers twice last weekend. Port Huron began the weekend by tying a franchise record with seven goals in the first period on Friday. That set the tone in a 10-3 win, the most goals the team has scored in a game this season. The next night wasn’t much different as the Prowlers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second period before finishing with a comfortable 7-4 victory. Lukas Lacny and Reggie Millette led the way with four points apiece. Drew Welsch, Bobby Price and Tyler Fox all scored their first pro goals during the series sweep. Port Huron is now 30-16-6 with 90 points and just three points behind Danbury for the second spot in the Empire Division.

The Thunderbirds also played a home and home with their closest geographic rival, the Blue Ridge Bobcats. On Friday in Wytheville, Virginia, the Birds found themselves down 4-2 after 40 minutes. They scored three unanswered in the third, capped by Zach White’s shorthanded marker with under seven minutes to go, to steal three points. The series shifted to Winston-Salem the next night and so did the momentum. The Bobcats got out to a 5-0 lead in the second period and chased Mario Cavaliere from the crease. Although White broke the shutout bid for Gregory Hussey, the 5-1 loss put a damper on the weekend and allowed the Athens Rock Lobsters to jump into the top spot in the Continental Division. Carolina is two points away from the top spot at 37-11-4 with 113 points.

SEASON SERIES (THUNDERBIRDS LEAD 3-1)

Oct. 14 @ Port Huron: Thunderbirds 4, Prowlers 0

Oct. 15 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 3, Thunderbirds 2 (SO)

Feb. 7 @ Port Huron: Thunderbirds 5, Prowlers 3

Feb. 8 @ Port Huron: Thunderbirds 2, Prowlers 1

LAST MEETING

Matt Graham got the Prowlers on the board first in period one, but Jiri Pestuka tied things up just over a minute later. Gus Ford’s second-period tally was the only other one the rest of the way as Carolina earned a weekend sweep. Mario Cavaliere got the win with 26 saves and Reid Cooper took the loss after making 28 stops in the low-scoring affair. 

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Prowlers - Matt Graham (F) - The Port Huron head coach sat himself a game last weekend but still managed a pair of goals to move one shy of his career high in a season of 23. He’s found the scoresheet in each of his last seven games with six multi-point efforts in that span.

Thunderbirds - Dawson Baker (F) - The fourth-year forward returned to action last weekend after over two months on the IR. He’s looking to get back up to speed with playoffs around the corner. 

STAT CENTRAL

The Prowlers have scored first in every game of their 9-game win streak…Petr Panacek (CAR) is 2 goals away from 100, 2 assists away from 200 and 4 points away from 300 in his FPHL career…The Prowlers have reached 30 wins and 90 points for the first time since Matt Graham took over as general manager and head coach…The Thunderbirds are giving up an FPHL low 2.23 goals against per game this season

SERIES SCHEDULE

Apr. 4, 7:35 P.M. at Fairgrounds Arena (Winston-Salem, NC)

Apr. 5, 6:05 P.M. at Fairgrounds Arena (Winston-Salem, NC)

Both games will be available to watch live or on demand on the PHP Network YouTube channel.