AHL Charlotte Checkers

Checkers Mash Monsters for 4-2 Victory

Published on February 19, 2022 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


CHARLOTTE, NC - The Checkers kept their winning ways going against Cleveland, fighting off a late push from the Monsters and earning a hard-fought 4-2 victory.

After surrendering a power-play tally in the early moments of the first, the Checkers rebounded in a big way with three unanswered strikes of their own.

Logan Hutsko was a driving force of that offensive push, as the rookie forward lit the lamp to even the score late in the opening frame and then set the stage for each of the following two tallies to finish the night with a team-best three points on the board.

The Monsters made a final push in the third, narrowing Charlotte's lead to one with another goal on the man advantage, but the Checkers locked things up down the stretch and tacked on an empty-net dagger to wrap things up. Spencer Knight continued his strong play between the pipes, ending the night with 26 saves and freezing out Cleveland for a 4-2 victory.

Quotes

Coach Geordie Kinnear on the start

"I didn't like the way we started. It was sloppy, bad changes. It just wasn't sharp. I give Cleveland a lot of credit because I thought they came with a lot of purpose to their game and I thought we had a sloppy start. That starts with me and moves down to the players, but it was definitely a sloppy start."

Kinnear on the team picking up its game

"You've got good leadership in there, and I asked the guys to start building their game and finding it. You have to learn that sometimes you're not going to be on top of your game and you have to be able to work your way through it. I was proud of the guys. I thought the second period we started working through it and in the third period we stuck with it."

Kinnear on Spencer Knight

"We don't want to always rely on our goaltender. The penalty kill made some big mistakes and gave them two, and that's not normally us. We've got to clean that up and be better because we want to play well and not just rely on our goaltender."

Logan Hutsko on the game

"We didn't start as hard as we'd like to but we found a way to get it done. Good teams find a way to win and we did that tonight."

Hutsko on getting on the score sheet

"I try not to focus on the outcomes and try to focus on whether I'm playing well or not. The points will come and go. Sometimes you have nights like tonight and sometimes you play well and have none."

Notes

The Checkers have won four straight for the first time this season ... Hutsko's three points tied his season/career high set on Dec. 15 ... Cholowski has two goals in his first five games as a Checker ... Kole Lind assisted on McCormick's goal to extend his point streak to six games (3g, 3a) ... Since losing his first game with the Checkers on Dec. 18, Knight has won five straight ... Chase Priskie played his first game with the Checkers since Jan. 20 ... Connor Carrick, Grigori Denisenko, Max Gildon, Aleksi Heponiemi, John Ludvig, Gustaf Olofsson and Christopher Gibson missed the game due to injury ... Antoine Bibeau, Jacob Friend, Nolan Kneen and Ryan Lohin were healthy extras.

Up Next

Charlotte's home stand wraps up on Sunday with a 1 p.m. rematch against the Monsters.

Check out the Charlotte Checkers Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from February 19, 2022


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