Max McCormick was the primary contributor to Charlotte’s offense, notching three goals to pick up the Checkers’ first hat trick of the season. His first tally came when the Checkers were trailing late in the opening frame and the powerful forward knocked home a rebound out front, then late in the third he launched a quick shot from the right circle that found the back of the net to give the visitors’ some breathing room. Finally, McCormick wrapped up his first career hat trick in the waning moments of regulation by hitting the empty net to seal Charlotte’s road victory.
For the second night in a row for Charlotte, the opening frame featured offensive fireworks. Fredrik Claesson opened the scoring with a seeing-eye point shot just 67 seconds into regulation, but the Sound Tigers responded with a pair of their own tallies just minutes later. McCormick’s power-play strike later in the frame brought the score to a 2-2 deadlock heading into the first intermission.
Things settled in the second, with neither side able to break the tie, but Charlotte’s power-play answered the call again in the third. Eetu Luostarinen cleaned up a rebound in front just 74 seconds into the frame to snatch the lead back and the Checkers never looked back, cruising on to a 5-2 victory.
Alex Nedeljkovic shook off Bridgeport’s early surge and shut them down the rest of the way, finishing the night with 23 saves and another win under his belt.
