CHARLOTTE, NC – In a wild rematch against the Laval Rocket, the Checkers came out on top by a 7-5 score. After the visitors opened the scoring midway through the first, the Checkers answered back with three power-play goals over the span of the final five 
minutes.
Two of those came off the stick of Valentin Zykov, who extended his goal streak to five games and now leads the league in both goals and power-play goals.
Laval got in on the man-advantage action in the middle frame to cut into the Charlotte lead, then cashed in on a pair of extremely fortunate bounces for two goals in the first 90 seconds of the third to claim another lead. Both sides marked another power-play tally shortly after to set up a 5-4 deficit for Charlotte.
The Checkers took over from that point down the stretch, starting with Warren Foegele flinging a backhander that fooled Laval goalie Charlie Lindgren and evened the score. Foegele followed that up later in the frame by feeding Clark Bishop for a shorthanded breakaway that the latter finished with a stellar deke.
With their first lead since the first period, the Checkers locked things down in the waning minutes, with Foegele notching an empty netter – his third point of the period – to nail down Charlotte’s rollercoaster victory.
Alex Nedeljkovic started the game for Charlotte, but had to exit after taking a high stick to the face and receiving stitches. In his place came Jeremy Smith, who made 18 stops to pick up his fourth consecutive victory.
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