With home-ice advantage locked in for the first round, the Checkers leaned on a young lineup for the final game of the regular season - especially up front, where five of the 12 forwards had less than five pro games to their names.
The Penguins - who were eliminated from Calder Cup Playoff contention a week ago - had the upper hand out of the gates, building a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes of play. But Charlotte turned things upside down in the third.
Santtu Kinnunen and Connor Bunnaman each converted on a pair of quick power plays less than three minutes into the frame to tie things up, and then when the Penguins regained their lead shortly thereafter, Charlotte’s power-play unit came through once again. This time it was Grigori Denisenko who took a one-time feed from Henry Bowlby and wired it into the back of the net.
Things settled down for the rest of the third and the contest would eventually move on to overtime. The Penguins controlled almost the entirety of the first two minutes of the extra frame, but the Checkers held firm and created a golden chance of their own. After keeping the puck in the offensive zone, Jake Wise flung the puck down low to Bitetto, who turned toward the net and roofed a beauty of a shot to the short side - notching his second goal of the game and giving the Checkers a stunning win to ride into the postseason.
What a finish from Bitetto! ???? pic.twitter.com/vQVESRbOnQ
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) April 16, 2023
