CHARLOTTE, NC – The Checkers showed some rejuvenation on home ice Friday night, blowing by the Springfield Thunderbirds 5-2.
After struggling through some slow starts during their most recent road trip, the Checkers roared out of the gates in their return to Charlotte. Andrew Poturalski broke out a strong power move to the front of the net to open the scoring eight minutes in, then Andrew Miller followed that up less than a minute later with a top-shelf breakaway conversion. The Checkers kept their foot on the gas even on the penalty kill, with Roland McKeown joining the rush and picking a corner for a shorthanded tally that made the score 3-0 before the first horn sounded.
The Thunderbirds were able to chip into the Checkers’ advantage right before the first intermission, but that wouldn’t slow Charlotte’s roll. Andrew Miller opened the middle frame with his second tally of the night, then a quick wrister from Janne Kuokkanen found the back of the net minutes later to stretch Charlotte’s lead to 5-1.
The third period would have significantly fewer fireworks, with Springfield tacking on one more late in the frame, but it wouldn’t make a difference as Alex Nedeljkovic’s 28 saves were more than enough to seal the Checkers’ lopsided victory.
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