Checkers Bury Bruins 5-1 to Take Game 1
May 2, 2025 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release
PROVIDENCE, RI - The Checkers entered the postseason with a bang, beating down the Bruins 5-1 to take Game 1 of their second-round series.
The visitors found themselves facing a man advantage within the first four minutes of play but flipped the script on Providence. Just 12 seconds into the kill John Leonard took a hold of the puck in the neutral zone, skated into the zone on an odd-man rush and buried a shot to open the scoring with a shorthanded goal. The Checkers weren't done, though, as Justin Sourdif forced a turnover on the Providence breakout 37 seconds later on the same kill and beat netminder Michael DiPietro to stun the Bruins and give Charlotte a quick 2-0 lead.
The Bruins punched back before the first intermission, but the Checkers had set the tone for the rest of their night. Mike Benning hammered a one-timer from the top of the circles to push Charlotte's lead back to a pair after 40 minutes of play, then Ben Steeves had a shot on the rush that pinballed off a Bruins player and in to stretch the visitors ' lead even further. C.J. Smith connected on a long distance empty netter in the final minutes of regulation and that would cap a lopsided victory for the Checkers.
While the offense was clicking on all cylinders, Kaapo Kahkonen was taking care of the other end of the ice for Charlotte. The veteran netminder stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced and helped keep the potent Providence power play at bay - especially on two opportunities late in the third - and earned his first career postseason win in North America.
Quotes
Coach Geordie Kinnear on the game
I thought obviously we had to kill a penalty early and that allowed us to find our game a little bit with getting the two shorthanded goals. I thought we built it over the game.
Kinnear on his team's start
It took us a little bit. I thought they might have carried the physicality of the play a little bit. I thought we found it a little bit probably midway through the second period and Kaapo allowed us to find it with some big saves. We definitely found it partway through the second period and continued to build it from that.
Kinnear on Leonard and Sourdif having shorthanded success
They're in the moment. I always use the phrase "red zone players" because they want to be in those moments. They were big goals, but we still have to clean up some things there, because, again, Kaapo was our best penalty killer and he made a couple of grade-A saves that we don't want our goalies to really have to make on the kill.
Kinnear on the key to maintaining momentum for Game 2 on Sunday
Just be even keeled. We've done it all year. Just continue to get better and move forward. Enjoy the win, and then we have to make some corrections because they're going to make some corrections. We just want to continue to get better and build.
Notes
The Checkers have a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five Atlantic Division Semifinal series ... This was the first time in team postseason history that the Checkers scored two shorthanded goals in a single period. It was the second time the team has scored two in a game, along with Game 5 of the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals ... Two shorthanded goals is already the second most in a single postseason in franchise history - the 2019 postseason saw the Checkers score six ... Leonard, Benning and Steeves all scored their first pro postseason goals ... Dating back to the regular season the Checkers have won six straight on the road ... Riley Bezeau, Nicholas Zabaneh, MacKenzie Entwistle, Zac Dalpe, Ryan McAllister, Kai Schwindt, Aidan McDonough, Sandis Vilmanis, Riley Hughes, Riese Gaber, Liam McLinskey, Mitch Vande Sompel, Eamon Powell, Colton Huard, Dennis Cesana and Cooper Black were the extras for Charlotte
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