The Islanders came firing out of the gate, tilting the ice their way and putting the Checkers into a 3-0 hole through 20 minutes of play.
The Checkers settled things down from that point but couldn’t gain any ground in the middle frame, heading into the third period still trailing by three goals.
Charlotte worked its magic in the final frame once again, though, starting the comeback trail with a snipe from Zac Dalpe in the early stages of the period. The momentum continued to roll for the home side, and Cory Conacher converted on a man advantage minutes later to put the Checkers back within striking distance.
With 61 seconds remaining in regulation it was the Checkers captain who came through in the clutch - Dalpe redirected a quick wrister from Santtu Kinnunen and beat Bridgeport netminder Cory Schneider to earn a point in the standings for Charlotte and force overtime.
The Captain sends us to OT! pic.twitter.com/7qcWpfbRPM
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) March 12, 2023
It was a frantic extra frame, featuring a huge penalty kill for Charlotte, a myriad of chances for both sides and a waved-off goal for the home side. After the chaos subsided the game would proceed to a shootout, where the Islanders lit the lamp on two of their three opportunities to claim the extra standings point.