The Charlotte Checkers, AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers and Seattle Kraken, climbed over the .500 mark by shaking off a loss on Friday and posting back-to-back road wins over the weekend.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2, Charlotte 1
An early marker from Grigori Denisenko, his second of the season, and 38 shots on goal were not enough for the Checkers, who fell 2-1 to the host Penguins. Zac Dalpe drew the only assist on Denisenko’s goal. Chris Bigras scored the decisive goal with 3:23 left in regulation.
Charlotte 4. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 0
Thanks to a natural hat trick from Cole Schwindt and a 30-save shutout from Christopher Gibson, the Checkers gained a split against the Penguins with a 4-0 win at Mohegan Sun Arena. Schwindt scored in the first period, from Carsen Twarynksi and Gibson, and then added two more in the second, with assists going to Scott Wilson at 2:52 and Henry Bowlby and Twarynksi at 13:27, to up his goal total to six. Matt Kiersted scored an unassisted empty-netter to complete the scoring.
Charlotte 5, Hershey 2
The Checkers spotted the Bears a first period lead before running off five-straight goals en route to a 5-2 victory in Hershey. Kole Lind scored two of the goals while Scott Wilson, Max McCormick, and Alexander True notched the others. True’s goal tied him with Cole Scwindt for the team lead in that department with six. While Panthers prospects didn’t contribute any goals, they did rack up assists. Grigori Denisenko collected three of them. Aleksi Heponeimi and Chase Priskie each had two, and Serron Noel also chipped in with a helper.
The Checkers (6-5-1) will continue its six-game road trip on Wednesday with a game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Friday will see the team take on the Utica Comets before they finish the trip with another match against the Bears in Hershey on Sunday.