The game had a strange start when one minute in the Checkers were assessed a bench minor for an error in their starting lineup card. The Wolves took advantage, with AHL MVP Kenny Agostino lighting the lamp during the power play, followed less than three minutes later by another power-play tally, this time by Agostino’s linemate Andrew Agozzino. That goal would chase Tom McCollum from the game, with Michael Leighton making his first appearance between the pipes since Feb. 17.
Beginning the game in a two-goal hole wasn’t ideal for the Checkers, but it didn’t stop them from pushing back. The visitors dominated the remainder of the first and into the second but couldn’t put anything behind netminder Ville Husso. The Wolves tacked on a third goal early in the middle frame while shorthanded, but the Checkers answered shortly after, with Connor Brickley busting through to get the Checkers on the board.
Down by a pair heading into the third, the Checkers continued to press for offense and finally, with less than seven minutes left in regulation, they found it courtesy of Phil Di Giuseppe. With the puck loose out front and a mass of bodies surrounding it, Sergey Tolchinsky was able to corral it over to Di Giuseppe, who buried it for his first goal of the series and put the Checkers within one heading down the home stretch. Charlotte’s assault on the Chicago zone rolled on, but time slipped away and the Wolves held on, bringing the Checkers’ improbable run to an end.
