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AHL Charlotte Checkers

Checkers Fall to Phantoms 3-2 in Rematch

October 26, 2019 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


CHARLOTTE, NC - Charlotte couldn't replicate their success against the Phantoms Saturday night, falling by a 3-2 score.

Janne Kuokkanen opened the scoring by popping in a rebound from out front for the first period's only tally, then the Phantoms pushed back hard in the middle frame. But despite ceding a franchise-record 24 shots from the visitors, the Checkers made it to the second intermission with a lead thanks to a last-minute wrister from Jake Bean that found its way into the back of the net.

The volume of Lehigh Valley's attack slowed in the third but the Phantoms found a way to convert early on. A quick strike evened the score just over five minutes in, then a too-many-men penalty on the Checkers led to Greg Carey's go-ahead tally just two minutes later.

The Phantoms would lock down that lead, despite a significant push from the Checkers down the stretch. J-F Berube's 29 saves ended up being enough to clinch two points for the visitors, even against a strong 39-save performance from his counterpart in Alex Nedeljkovic.

Quotes

Coach Ryan Warsofsky on the difference between this game and last night's win

Urgency, determination, speed and losing 50/50 (battles). A little bit of everything really. Just our focus. We didn't have our jump.

Warsofsky on killing eight penalties

It's tough to get into a rhythm. On the PK, it gets to the point where if you're killing seven or eight, you're asking for one. Not good on our part with taking too many penalties. We just didn't have it tonight.

Warsofsky on the qualify of his team's scoring chances

Average. I didn't think we had enough jump in our game. If we're going to be a successful team, there's no nights off and there's no shifts off. That's how we have to play. We just got taught a lesson that if you show up and go 75 percent, you know what's going to happen. We've got to learn from it, turn the page and get back on Monday.

Defenseman Roland McKeown on the difference between this game and last night's win

Just energy level. I thought tonight after the first we just kind of sat back and let the game come to us. We just looked slow, and you take penalties when you're slow and that just kind of wears you out in your own end. We were playing uphill from there.

McKeown on killing penalties in the third period

When you're killing that many minutes it's taxing and the majority of your shifts are in the d-zone. I thought that hurt our momentum tonight.

McKeown on what do work on moving forward

We've got to find it within ourselves to play our game, which is a fast game and it's demanding. When one of us is off or we're lacking speed, it really shows up.

Notes

Charlotte fell to 4-4-0 on the season ... Kuokkanen's goal was his first since 1:18 of the season's first game on Oct. 5 ... Luostarinen extended his point streak to six games (4g, 2a), which is the longest by a Checker this season. He is tied for fourth among league rookies in scoring ... Alex Nedeljkovic fell to 0-4-0 on the season ... The Checkers lost when leading after two periods. They were 49-0-0 in that situation last season ... The Checkers killed 11 consecutive penalties against the Phantoms before allowing the winning goal on the power play ... Lehigh Valley's 24 shots on goal in the second period was the most allowed by the Checkers in a single period in franchise history ... Forwards Stelio Mattheos and Spencer Smallman and defenseman Fredrik Claesson missed the game due to injury ... Forward Anthony Louis and defensemen Alex Lintuniemi and Derek Sheppard were healthy extras.

Up Next

The Checkers will regroup this week before traveling to Cleveland for a two-game set starting Friday.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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