Despite failing to break through on any of their six man-advantages, the Checkers had no issues scoring at even strength and showed as much right out of the gates. Julien Gauthier shoveled home a beautiful spinning feed from Sergey Tolchinsky 2:10 into the game, then just 12 seconds later Nick Schilkey ripped in a one-timer to double the lead.
Things would settle for the remainder of the first, but the start of the second period brought about another run from the Charlotte attack. A strange bounce of the puck out of netminder Mackenzie Blackwood’s glove extended the vistors’ lead 71 seconds into the frame, then Gauthier pulled off a power move to the net for his second of the night less than a minute after that. The Checkers pounced on the reeling Devils once more in their early frenzy, with Valentin Zykov threading a quick wrister off the post and in to put Charlotte comfortably ahead 5-0 and chase Blackwood from the contest.
Binghamton finally broke through on Alex Nedeljkovic, who finished with 20 saves and picked up his AHL-leading 12th win, late in the second, but the Checkers had one more hot start in them. Tolchinsky, who would finish the night with a career-high four points, knocked home a cross-ice feed less than five minutes after the start of the frame to make it a 6-1 contest before Zykov finished things off with his second of the night to cap the blowout victory for Charlotte.
