Checkers forward Gracyn Sawchyn opened the game with a power-play strike that would ultimately be the only goal of the night from the home team. Charlotte held that lead as the game entered its second period, but it would be short-lived from there.
The Penguins got on the board with two goals in a little over three minutes in the middle frame. With a two-goal advantage through the game’s halfway mark, the Penguins tacked on one more goal to seize control of the tilt.
Despite a hard-fought final period, the Checkers could not find the back of the net during the remainder of the game. The Penguins scored once more, putting a pin in their eventual 4-1 victory.
QUOTES
Head Coach Geordie Kinnear on the team going six straight games allowing three goalsI go game by game by game. You look at the road trip, not an easy road trip. I’m going to put that to bed honestly…If you look at it in the game in the second period we had some structure to it. You get what you deserve. The game will humble you…At the start of the game we gave up a breakaway early… Liked a lot more about the game, we just have to eliminate the big individual mistakes. We gave up odd man rushes going the other way. To give that group an opportunity to score a goal, they have a lot of goal scorers.…. To their credit they were able to make us pay.
Kinnear on improving possession
I don't think it was just in the defensive zone, it was all over the ice. Learning to win takes a little bit of time, and you have to obviously respect your opponent. There’s a certain way we want to play and everyone has to commit to that and if you don’t those types of things happen… There were certain situations where we need to take care of the puck better and not allow a team like that to score a goal… here was certain things that moved the needle today.
Kinnear on committing to consistent play
The group was good on the bench. If you look at the game closely in the second period there was a couple grade A’s by us…If you look over the course of a major trend is 2 on 1s, 3 on 1s, we’re not even getting shots on that. We have to clean up that… When we actually hit the net and the goalie can make a mistake. Or it can go in the back of the net. There are certain moments where you have the puck on your stick…the game can change
Kinnear on regrouping after a loss
I don’t get too negative to be honest...negativity doesn’t fall into the equation. Sometimes you win a hockey game and you play terrible. Sometimes you lose and you play decent. We’re just about moving the needle and getting better…Still getting guys in games who haven’t played a lot of games yet…individuals have to get better, as a group we have to get better, and improve chemistry and consistency moving forward…Looking forward to Monday’s practice and playing Tuesday.
Kinnear on Gracyn Sawchyn
He’s one of the guys when you ask him he’s like “Why’d I shoot that?” He’s finding his groove… Super excited about the player. I love his competitiveness with the puck and without. Exciting young player for us to continue to move.
Kinnear on Riese Gaber going down after blocking a shot in the third period
You want to talk about certain things about how we moved the needle a little bit. That would be one of them. We’re still down. We don’t want to give up another goal and give them another chance to be able to score. Guy eats a shot. I don’t know what the situation is yet…but those are important moments for our group. To watch a leader be able to block a shot and pay a price to keep the puck out of the net. You look for little things, that would be a bigger one for me.
