The home team carried a one-goal lead into the final period of play, but a shorthanded strike from Joseph Blandisi early in the frame pulled the contest back even. The two sides went back-and-forth across the rest of the third, but it was the Marlies who found the next goal just as their man advantage expired. The tally vaulted Toronto ahead on the scoreboard and the visitors rode out the remainder of regulation to a win.
Charlotte’s heavy hitters drove much of the team’s offense Saturday night, as Aidan McDonough lit the lamp twice and Kyle Criscuolo and Mike Benning picked up a pair of assists each.
After trading goals through the first period and a half, the Checkers found a spark in the middle frame when Ryan McAllister and McDonough both buried loose pucks out front for back-to-back strikes that gave Charlotte its first lead of the game heading into the second intermission - an advantage that would dissipate in the third and snap the team’s active point streak .
What a play! pic.twitter.com/qUAfiT10cQ
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) November 9, 2024
QUOTES
Coach Geordie Kinnear on the difference in the gameThe third period. I though the first period they were the better team, and I thought in the second period we were the better team. Then way too many mistakes in the third period. They’re a very good hockey team and they deserve a lot of credit.
Kinnear on generating more scoring chances
I thought there were enough chances. When you play really good teams that are coached well, you’ve got to create your own space sometimes. It’s not always going to be that you’re going to get 30 chances. You’ve got to earn it and be patient, and when there is an opportunity you’ve got to make sure you bury it. I thought we had enough opportunities to win the game.
Kinnear on the power play
In the third period you have an opportunity to really make the game tough on them, and then it gave them life. To be honest, I didn’t love the start of the third period. There was a quick four-on-four there for a little bit, but I didn’t think we had the energy coming out of the dressing room. We’ll have to re-evaluate and make sure we’re ready to go for all three periods.
Rasmus Asplund on the difference in the game
You can’t let up goals when you’re on the power play. That makes the difference in this game, but still it’s a good hockey game between two good teams. They came out on top today, and I think we played our game most parts. We still need to get to the full 60 to come out on top in games like this. Overall I think we took a lot of good from that game.
Asplund on penalties disrupting the team’s flow
Obviously we want to be a team that rolls four lines and three D pairs, and obviously that makes the flow a little disrupted. I think for the most part it’s using some guys too much, like you can’t really have energy to do the five-on-five stuff when you’re killing that many penalties. That’s a think we need to clean up too, for sure.
Asplund on breaking through in close games like this
I think we just need to learn how to play these games and how tight they are. It’s playoff-type games, and we want to play a long playoff run here in the spring, so I think we just need to learn from it.
