The Charlotte Checkers had an unsuccessful weekend, dropping road games to the Hartford Wolf Pack and Springfield Thunderbirds.
On Friday, the Checkers fell by a 4-2 count to the Wolf Pack at XL Center. After Connor Mackey opened the scoring for the home side, Charlotte’s Kyle Criscuolo knotted the score with a power-play goal 11:47 into the first with the assists going to Ryan McAllister and Aidan McDonough. The game remained tied until the early stages of the third period when Victor Mancini and Brandon Scanlin scored goals within a 3:02 span to put the Wolf Pack up by two. John Leonard halved the deficit, from Riese Gaber and Ben Steeves, with 4:55 remaining before Casey Fitzgerald iced it with a shorthanded empty-netter. Chris Driedger stopped 20 of 23 shots for the Checkers.
The Thunderbirds beat Charlotte by the same 4-2 score on Saturday night at MassMutual Center. After a scoreless first period, goals by Simon Robertsson and Marcus Sylvegard gave Springfield a two-goal lead. Trevor Carrick pulled one back for the Checkers with an unassisted goal with two seconds left in the middle frame. Marek Alscher’s first professional goal, with the assists going to McAliister and Gaber, evened the score 2:23 into the third. Unfortunately, veteran Matthew Peca would solve Ken Appleby with 5:29 remaining in regulation to break the tie. Dylan Peterson completed the scoring with an empty-netter. Appleby finished the game with 22 stops as Charlotte fell to 7-4-1.
The fourth-place Checkers will head back to Hartford for a Tuesday morning tilt.