The final minutes of the period proved to be fruitful for the Checkers throughout the contest. After falling behind 3-1 in the opening frame, Nicolas Roy and Martin Necas – both of whom would be on their way to four-point efforts – combined to set up Janne Kuokkanen for a pair of quick-strike tallies in the last 26 seconds of play, evening the score before the first buzzer sounded.
That tie would carry over until the final five minutes of the second, when Nick Schilkey jammed home a loose puck out front to give Charlotte the lead and Trevor Carrick unleashed a cannon from the blue line with 13 seconds left to extend that advantage through 40. Even the third period continued the trend, with Andrew Poturalski and Roy each cashing in empty netters in the waning moments to ice the contest and give Charlotte its second straight road victory.
In the end Charlotte’s offense stole the show, with six different skaters logging multi-point games, but the defense locked up after that whirlwind of a first. The Checkers allowed just 12 total shots over the course of the final two periods and Scott Darling, who finished with 20 saves to notch his third win of the season, turned aside 11 of them.
