Checkers reach 100 points for first season in win
Published 10:23 pm Friday, March 29, 2019
The Checkers faced off against the Wolf Pack for the final time tonight, traveling to Hartford and handing the home team a 4-1 defeat behind a decisive third period.
Just days after the Checkers dispatched them in consecutive lopsided contests in Charlotte, it looked like the Wolf Pack had an answer for the visitors. 19-year-old Stelio Mattheos opened the scoring just three minutes in with a quick release out front off a strong play from Steven Lorentz, but the Wolf Pack pushed back hard in the middle frame and finally got it to pay off. With under 30 seconds to go in the second, Sean Day threaded a shot through traffic that Dustin Tokarski never saw that evened the score heading into the final frame.
The Checkers came out firing in the third, doubling the Wolf Pack up on shots, but it was until the midway point of the period that they were able to regain their lead as Aleksi Saarela unleashed a monster one-timer from the right circle for his 25th goal of the year. Hartford continued to search for another spark down the stretch but the Checkers were able to shut it down, with Morgan Geekie teaming up with Andrew Poturalski for a tally in the final five minutes and Julien Gauthier hitting an empty-net dagger just seconds later to seal the deal.