The rematch was a narrowly contested, physical one. The first 40 minutes of play saw 34 penalty minutes between the two sides and just 22 total shots, but each side was able to convert on the man advantage. Theo Lindstein opened the scoring with a power-play goal less than six minutes in, then Jack Devine evened things up with one of his own in the final 30 seconds of the second.
The Checkers poured on the pressure in the third - outshooting Springfield 15-4 in the frame - but it was the visitors who broke the deadlock thanks to a Dylan Peterson backdoor tap in. The home team couldn’t quite find the equalizer from there, and time ran out on Charlotte’s rally attempt.
QUOTES
Coach Geordie Kinnear on the gameIt was kind of a weird hockey game. It wasn’t that pretty, to be honest with you. We were kind of out of sync at times. You had to be mentally tough in this game, and obviously they made one more play than we did. Their goalie at the end came up with some big saves. Chalk it up, keep moving on and build from it. What can we learn from today? Continue to move the needle.
Kinnear on the shot total in this game
That was the type of game it was. There wasn’t a lot going on, to be honest. It was kind of ping-pong a little bit. There wasn’t a lot of space and teams weren’t making a lot of plays. Obviously they made the play at the end to win the hockey game, but it wasn’t the prettiest hockey game. We can take some good from it and we can take things that we continue to work on. It’s one of those games you’ve got to be mentally tough in and you’ve got to stay focused, because one play can end the hockey game. Good lesson.
Kinnear on MacKenzie Entwistle and Brian Pinho making their season debuts this weekend
They know how we play here, and they’ve been working extremely hard. They worked extremely hard last year and were leaders for us last year. It hasn’t been an easy situation for those guys, but I know when I put them in the lineup what I’m going to get. As advertised, we got what we thought we would get from both those guys.
Kinnear on Casey Fitzgerald’s physical play
That’s why he’s here. He’s a total team guy and leads by example. That’s the type of hockey game it was too. You need some emotion at certain times. To play today you had to be mentally tough, and give Fitzy a lot of credit. Those aren’t easy things to do as a hockey player, and it shows me he really wants to win here.
Kinnear on Kirill Gerasimyuk starting consecutive games this weekend
You look at it, sometimes you have to be uncomfortable as part of the process. He played last night, he played today and didn’t get a lot of shots for a long period of time and then he gets some action. It’s all about moving the needle individually and collectively. That was a big development piece for Kirill today.
