Win Streak Ends with 5-3 Loss to Penguins

The Checkers locked in a tight battle with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday, but a late penalty proved to be their undoing in a 5-3 defeat.

While the opening frame passed uneventfully, the second period brought a flurry of action - starting with two quick strikes by the visitors to break the deadlock. The Checkers wasted no time responding, though, as Nicholas Zabaneh forced a turnover and buried a breakaway goal three minutes later and Sandis Vilmanis pulled off a sneaky wraparound just 78 seconds after that to tie things up before the second horn sounded.

The contest continued with the two sides neck-and-neck throughout the third until the Penguins were awarded a man advantage with just under seven minutes remaining. The Penguins cashed in to take over the lead, then added a pair of empty-net strikes to forge further ahead. Justin Sourdif punched one more in in the waning seconds of play, but it was too little, too late, and the Checkers saw their winning streak snapped.

QUOTES

Coach Geordie Kinnear on the game
It had ebbs and flows to it for sure. Down two, came back, tied it, got some scoring and some juice from (Zabaneh) there that got us going a little bit. I thought it was a grind in the third period for both teams to be honest. We made a mistake taking an offensive-zone penalty, and then obviously they have a really good power play with some elite skill, they capitalized on the chance and we chased it from there. A playoff-type game, you’ve got to put to bed and you have to learn from it. Winning hockey doesn’t entail taking offensive-zone penalties with six minutes to go in the game. We have to learn that lesson, but better now than later.

Kinnear on Nicholas Zabaneh
One, he’s a great teammate. He comes from that group that started in the east coast league and worked their way up. He found a home here by doing things right every single day. He’s finding the consistency and finding the identity, and he showed what he can do with the elite speed that he has. He’s brought good energy the last couple of games.

Kinnear on finishing up a busy week of games tomorrow
It's the name of the game. To be a hockey player, it’s tough to go through but really that’s what you enjoy. We’re going to enjoy tomorrow and enjoy the grind. A challenging month for sure and a challenging schedule coming back from that 12-day road trip with four games this week against elite teams, so it will be a good test for our group tomorrow. Again, we’re not focused on outcomes, we’re focused on winning hockey. We didn’t really play it today consistently, especially at the end there like I talked about, so we want to make sure we continue to learn and play a quick turnaround tomorrow against a good team. Find a way.

NOTES

The Checkers dropped from second to third in the Atlantic Division, but have a chance to regain that spot in tomorrow’s rematch … Charlotte’s four-game win streak came to an end … Charlotte fell to 4-3-0 in the season series that concludes tomorrow … Zabaneh has two goals this season, which have come over the course of his last three games … Sourdif extended his point streak to four game (2g, 3a) … Checkers scratches included forwards Riley Bezeau, Brett Chorske, Zac Dalpe, MacKenzie Entwistle, Riese Gaber, Riley Hughes, Ryan McAllister, Aidan McDonough and Liam McLinskey; defensemen Mike Benning, Colton Huard and Mitch Vande Sompel; and goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen.