The last leg of Charlotte’s three-in-three weekend saw the Checkers surge early, but ultimately wind up on the wrong side of a 5-3 final against the Islanders.
The Islanders opened the scoring just 68 seconds in, but the Checkers had a strong response from there. Luke Henman knocked one home to even the score a few minutes later, then Cale Fleury and Dennis Cholowski each lit the lamp 40 seconds apart to give the visitors a 3-1 advantage heading into the first intermission.
Things would shift the Islanders’ way from there, though, as Bridgeport evened the score before the second intermission and then reclaimed the lead with a quick shot from Andy Andreoff midway through the third.
The Checkers pushed hard down the stretch for the equalizer, launching plenty of rubber on net and earning a late man advantage, but they couldn’t solve veteran goalie Cory Schneider - who skated away with 37 saves and, after a late empty netter from his team, a 5-3 defeat of Charlotte.
NOTES
The Checkers have now lost three straight games and are winless in each of their last four … Tonight was the last time the Checkers and Islanders will play each other this season, with Charlotte finishing with a 4-4-0-0 record in the series … Max McCormick has a point in each of the last two games … Alexander True recorded his first multi-assist game of the season and his sixth multi-point game of the season … Tonight was Max McCormick’s fourth multi-point game of the season … The Checkers snapped a six-game streak of allowing a power-play goal … Tonight was Owen Tippett’s 150th pro game … Grigori Denisenko, Gustav Olofsson, Max Gildon, Christopher Gibson, John Ludvig and Connor Carrick missed the game due to injury … Ryan Lohin and Serron Noel were healthy extras
UP NEXT
The Checkers continue their road trek with a midweek meeting in Hershey on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
