Checkers forward Cory Conacher opened the scoring with his third goal of the season midway through the first period, only to see the Phantoms respond with their first of four consecutive goals just over one minute later. Connor Bunnaman scored a late goal against his former team with just under six minutes remaining in regulation, but the Checkers weren’t able to pull off a late rally.
The loss snapped the Checkers’ point streak at three games (1-0-2) and also their road winning streak at four games.
Following Bridgeport’s regulation defeat to Hartford earlier tonight, Charlotte only needed one point to secure their fifth consecutive trip to the postseason. Their next attempt will come as their road trip continues in Hershey on Saturday. With four games left in the regular season, all on the road, Charlotte remains in fourth place in an Atlantic Division that will see the top six teams qualify.
This game started brightly enough for Charlotte when Conacher backhanded a loose puck past Lehigh netminder Samuel Ersson following a nice setup by Logan Hutsko, who returned from injury to play his first game since Feb. 26.
The tides turned for good just 1:27 later, however, as Louie Belpedio capitalized on a wild scramble in front of Charlotte’s goal that left goalie J-F Berube out of position. The Phantoms tacked on two more in the second through Elliot Desnoyers and Olle Lycksell and another in the third from Cooper Marody to take a 4-1 lead, with Bunnaman getting one back near the end. Marody would add a second goal into the empty net to seal the victory.
A silver lining on Bunnaman’s late goal was an assist from Lucas Carlsson that allowed him to tie current Checkers assistant coach Bobby Sanguinetti for the franchise’s single-season points record by a defenseman (50).
