Springfield opened the scoring early on and carried that advantage into the later stages of the middle frame, but the Checkers were finally able to kickstart their offense thanks to their most recent addition.
Max McCormick - playing in his first game since returning from the NHL on Tuesday - pulled off a stellar individual effort and wrapped a puck home to even the score after 40 minutes of play and spark the home squad.
The third period belonged to the Checkers, as Zac Dalpe kept the momentum rolling with a power-play strike 67 seconds in to claim the lead and Carsen Twarynski followed it up with a shorthanded breakaway goal to push Charlotte further ahead. An empty netter from Dalpe put the final nail in the coffin for Springfield, and the Checkers pulled off a midweek split against their division rivals.
North Carolina native Billy Christopoulos made his Checkers debut tonight and stood tall, keeping the Springfield offense at bay by making 26 saves and earning the win.
Missed having this guy around pic.twitter.com/LtnuUqZPys
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) January 21, 2022
QUOTES
Forward Zac Dalpe on getting the winWe’re playing a game every other day, and it can go either way. We had a couple of games slide and then the weather starts getting bad, but the fans showed up and we grinded out a win. No rest for the wicked with a back-to-back coming up, so we’ll just keep a good thing going.
Dalpe on the team getting better as the game went on
Geordie came in and had the direction we wanted to go in before the game, and he felt like we didn’t do it in the first 20, so he emphasized it pretty good. Without saying what he had to say, it kind of sparked us. The leadership and the older guys and the coaching staff, I think they did a good job and Geordie woke us up for sure.
Dalpe on goaltender Billy Christopoulos
Billy was awesome. He’s from Raleigh, so he’s a North Carolina kid, he doesn’t know anybody on the team when he comes in - it’s huge for him. I’m super pumped. He just looked calm as the game went on. I don’t know much about the goalie position but he played it well tonight.
Goaltender Billy Christopoulos on playing in his home state
It was awesome. That’s a huge team win there. The guys made me feel pretty special tonight being a local guy, and it’s a fun team to play behind honestly. They made my life pretty easy, and it’s just cool to be here and get that win.
Christopoulos on working with a new team
They’re awesome. A lot of the guys came up to me before the game and kind of told me what they like to do and where they like to be. The guys were talking a lot out there which really helped me. It was awesome.
Coach Geordie Kinnear on the game
To be quite honest I wasn’t in love with the first period. It was really sloppy and guys were kind of on their own page a little but, but I think we dialed it in after the first. I loved the effort from everybody. I thought everybody played extremely hard. We have another goalie with another victory, and I’m glad for the kid.
Kinnear on his message after the first period
We had a game plan, and for some reason we weren’t committed to it, but guys deserved to win at the end with the way they played.
Kinnear on veteran players leading the way
Max is an important player for us. He plays hard, he makes plays, he scored a big goal. Dalps has been a great pro all the way, plays hard every single day, comes to practice to work and is a leader by example. Your work is always rewarded if you do those things, you just don’t know when. Sometimes you go through struggles, but as long as that is consistent things will turn out pretty good for you. Those guys are great examples.
Kinnear on Christopoulos
He played great. He caught a couple of pucks and that calmed everything down. I thought he was outstanding. Local kid that came to Charlotte, had an opportunity and made the most of it today.
