Riley Bezeau scored twice as the Charlotte Checkers posted a 5-1 victory over the Laval Rocket in Game 3 at Bojangles Coliseum, putting the Florida Panthers AHL affiliate one win away from the Calder Cup Final.
Already up 1-0 on Bezeau’s pretty first period goal, the Checkers scored three times in a 4:21 span of the second to break the game open.
John Leonard notched his team-leading sixth goal 53 seconds into the frame, followed by Bezeau’s second of the afternoon at 2:01 and Will Lockwood at the 5:14 mark to chase Rocket starter Cayden Primeau.
With Jacob Fowler in the net, Jared Davidson got Laval on the board at 8:49, Sandis Vilmanis countered at 15:49 to restore Charlotte’s four-goal advantage.
Jesse Puljujärvi and Mikulas Hovorka each had two assists and Michael Benning, Wilmer Skoog, MacKenize Entwistle, C.J. Smith, Tobias Björnfot and Oliver Okuliar finished with one helper.
Kaapo Kähkönen stopped 22 of 23 shots. Kähkönen is now 9-2 and sports a 1.71 GAA and .928 save percentage in the playoffs.
The Checkers will go for the sweep on Tuesday night. This iteration of the team is seeking its second Calder Cup after winning the title in 2019.