The Phantoms gained the upper hand in the opening frame, coming out and establishing a two-goal advantage for themselves in the first 11 minutes of play.
That would ultimately prove to be enough for the home side. Lehigh Valley would push its lead to 3-0 by the time the second intermission rolled around, and after Jake Wise put the Checkers on the board by banging in a loose puck with just under five to play, the Phantoms would cash in on an empty net to seal their victory.
The Checkers put plenty of rubber on net, outshooting Lehigh Valley 37-28 on the night and 30-13 in the final two frames alone, but they couldn’t solve Phantoms goaltender Cal Petersen - who stymied Charlotte during its final push and helped Lehigh Valley to kill all five man advantages the visitors were awarded.
After seeing both ends of the result spectrum so far, the Checkers are wrapping up their three-in-three weekend tomorrow in Hershey before turning around and closing out this trip with a rematch in Lehigh Valley on Wednesday.
