SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Springfield Thunderbirds (5-0-2-0) made the Thunderdome a house of horrors for the Charlotte Checkers (3-3-1-0) on Sunday afternoon, scoring the final four goals of the contest to storm back and take a 5-3 victory.
The Checkers came out with the early jump for former T-Birds head coach Geordie Kinnear, whose club took a 1-0 lead on a turnaround forehander by Logan Hutsko at 4:11 of the first. The high-rising wrister went over the top of the right-hand glove of Charlie Lindgren.
The Thunderbirds once again had a quick response, though, as 20-year-old Keean Washkurak picked up his second goal in two games to tie the score just 1:26 after Hutsko’s tally. Washkurak got himself into the middle of the ice and fired an initial shot that got deflected back to his feet. With a second crack, Washkurak slammed a snapper over the glove hand of Chris Gibson to tie things up, 1-1.
A former Thunderbird would restore the Checkers lead, however, as Maxim Mamin stepped to the inside and made a cut to the front of the crease to beat Lindgren and restore the Charlotte lead, 2-1, at 10:22.
Springfield got a power play chance late in the first and midway through the second but could not strike. In fact, it got worse for the T-Birds when Cole Schwindt beat Lindgren on a breakaway backhander at 9:44 of the second, and suddenly the T-Birds found themselves down, 3-1, for the second straight night.
For a second straight night, Springfield showed its comeback mentality, and this time, it took less than a minute for the club to get back even. Making his return from injury, Scott Perunovich neatly stepped into a shooting lane in the left circle and rifled a wrister over Gibson’s shoulder at 13:40 to cut the lead to 3-2 on his 10th point and second goal of the season.
57 seconds later, the Thunderbirds got the game back on even terms, as a shot block sprung Nolan Stevens on a 2-on-1 with Alexey Toropchenko at the offensive blue line. Stevens hit his linemate in the right circle, and after a small hesitation, Toropchenko beat Gibson on the stick side to tie the game, 3-3 at 14:37.
For a fourth time this season, the T-Birds went to a third period tied, and for a fourth time this season, the Thunderbirds came away with a regulation-time victory. Just 29 seconds into the final frame, Tyler Tucker jumped into an offensive rush, taking a saucer pass from Nathan Todd in the left circle and snapping it into a yawning net to give Springfield the only lead it would need on this day, 4-3.
Lindgren was sensational in the final two periods, stopping 21 of the final 22 shots he faced, and the Springfield PK successfully dispatched both of Charlotte’s man-advantage opportunities. Todd would add one dose of insurance at the 13:26 mark with a power-play tap-in, set up beautifully from the left circle by Hugh McGing. Both players finished with two points on the night, and the T-Birds extended their season-opening point streak to seven games.
The Thunderbirds stay on home ice for their next contest on Friday, Nov. 5 as they welcome the Hershey Bears for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.
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