The Checkers nearly pulled off a stunning comeback in their weekend finale, but ultimately fell just short with a 5-3 loss to the Bruins.

The visitors racked up the chances early on, firing 17 shots in the first period alone and outshooting their opponent 31-18 through two periods of play, but strong play from Bruins netminder Brandon Bussi and the Providence attack had them in a hole nevertheless.

Providence struck twice within the same minute to open the scoring in the first, then extended their lead early on in the second. Anton Levtchi would break through on the man advantage later in the frame, but just before the second buzzer Providence pushed in one more to hold a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.

The Checkers continued to muster up chances and they finally began to fall, as Michael Del Zotto ripped a shot in for another power-play conversion early in the third and Henry Bowlby pulled off a seeing-eye snipe - despite tripping on a broken stick in the process - minutes later to narrow the gap to just a single goal.

Charlotte kept the opportunities coming down the stretch, but they couldn’t quite cap off their improbable rally. Chris Wagner found the back of the empty net in the waning moments for the Bruins to seal the deal and the Checkers departed from Providence on the wrong end of a 5-3 defeat.

NOTES

Charlotte finished its three-in-three weekend with a 1-2-0-0 record … The Checkers are now 0-3-0-0 against the Bruins this season … The Checkers have not won consecutive road games this season … Anton Levtchi has goals in two straight games … The Checkers have power-play goals in three straight games … Chris Tierney extended his assist streak to three games … Michael Del Zotto and Henry Bowlby’s goals were their first of the season … The Checkers have scored multiple powerplay goals in three of their last five games … The 17 shots the Checkers took in the first are the most in a period this season … The Checkers have allowed five goals in each of their last three games … Johnny Ludvig missed the game due to injury … Gerry Mayhew, Logan Hutsko, Serron Noel, Dennis Cesana, Calle Sjalin, Lucas Carlsson and J-F Berube were all scratches … The Checkers continue their six-game road trip on Wednesday in Hartford