The only breakthrough of the first period was a highlight reel shorthanded strike from John Leonard in which he ripped a spinning backhand around a defender and into the top corner.
The middle frame featured much more fireworks. Will Lockwood chipped in a loose puck out front to extend the home team’s lead. The Checkers then appeared to tack on another goal shortly after only to have it waived off due to a penalty that had been assessed, and the Penguins were able to strike on the ensuing man advantage to pull within one.
The Checkers snatched back the momentum before the next intermission, though, as Sandis Vilmanis broke into the zone and roofed the puck to beat the buzzer. The Penguins would punch back in the third, but Charlotte refused to cede the equalizer - backstopped by a strong performance between the pipes from Cooper Black. After battling off an extended run of extra-attacker pressure from the Penguins, the Checkers made it to the final buzzer and secured a big 3-2 victory.
This might be the sickest goal we've ever scored 😱 https://t.co/xstL2rwhSa pic.twitter.com/hg9GCe7POv
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) February 1, 2025
QUOTES
Geordie Kinnear on the gameI thought the second period was really good. What I liked was that we handled the ups and downs, didn’t really get too flustered and stayed pretty even keeled. A lot to like in the game.
Kinnear on the speed of the game
You definitely have to give that team a lot of credit. They’re a really good hockey team with a lot of dangerous players that can really skate and make plays. I thought early on in the game we didn’t have everybody going, but as I said I thought in the second period we got going. Too many penalties, but it was just a good hockey game that you had to manage the emotions and stay composed, and I thought we did a good job and showed some growth in that area.
Kinnear on Cooper Black
You look at the road trip, he had a couple of really good hockey games, so we gave him back-to-back starts and I thought he did a great job with it tonight. Just a young kid that loves hockey and has worked really hard with our goalie coach (Sylvain Rodrigue). There’s been a lot of growth there.
Kinnear on tomorrow’s rematch
We’re a group that, whether we win or lose, we learn lessons from it, move on and get ready for the next one. If you look behind you, you’re going to get a big surprise the next game. We’re a pretty even-keeled group but we want to take lessons out of this game and move forward.
Will Lockwood on the feeling in the room
It’s good. I think we have a lot of momentum. Everyone knows they’re a great team and they’re going to come back and probably have a better game tomorrow. We want to have momentum going into break, so tomorrow is a really important game. Not to be content about tonight and really bring a good effort tomorrow.
Lockwood on the speed of the game
I thought we did a good job of slowing it down, even though it’s a really quick game. We played into our structure. That’s a team that has a lot of skill and they sort of want to play a little run and gun, and I think we played well in our structure and we were good at the lines. It worked out.
Lockwood on bouncing back from disallowed goals
That’s a point of emphasis that we’ve been working on. We have great, positive energy on the bench and that’s really important. Everyone is picking each other up when things aren’t going our way. That’s why we’ve been resilient lately.
Lockwood on the team’s offensive success
We’ve been working on a lot of collapsing at the net, and I think that’s paid off. We have so much talent and we have so much firepower, but if you’re not getting to that net you’re not going to very successful. That’s been a point of emphasis and I think we’ve done a pretty good job.
