The Charlotte Checkers, AHL affiliate of your Florida Panthers, are 3-1 on the young season after splitting a weekend set with the Cleveland Monsters at Bojangles Coliseum.
On Friday, the Checkers posted its third consecutive win of the season by a 5-2 count. Aidan McDonough tallied twice, his fifth and sixth of the season, and Kyle Criscuolo collected four assists while Ryan McAllister assisted on Charlotte first three goals. Will Lockwood, Oliver Okuliar and Sandis Vilmanis scored their first goals of the 2024-25 campaign, and Wilmer Skoog, Trevor Carrick and Marek Alscher were credited with their first helpers. Veteran Chris Driedger stopped 22 of 24 shots to pick up his second win between the pipes.
Despite opening the scoring, the Checkers fell 4-2 to the Monsters on Saturday. John Leonard’s first of the season – on the power play from Matt Luff and Mike Benning – gave Charlotte the lead 5:59 into the tilt. Cleveland tied it up on Owen Sillinger’s power-play marker with five second left in the frame, and forged ahead when Roman Ahcan lit the lamp late in the second period. Luff’s redirection goal, from Skoog and Carrick, evened the score with 2:09 to go in regulation, but Cleveland regained the lead 16 seconds later on Trey Fix-Wolansky’s succesful penalty shot. Ahcan scored his second of the game into an empty net to clinch it. Ken Appleby took the loss, finishing with 26 saves.
The Checkers will be off until Friday when they open a two-game set against the Bridgeport Islanders.