The Checkers’ longest road trip of the season came to an end Saturday night with a tough 5-2 loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

After suffering a shutout the night before in Springfield, the Checkers fell into another hole against the Sound Tigers, surrendering a pair of goals 80 seconds apart in the first 10 minutes of the opening frame.

Charlotte’s previously prolific offense finally broke through later in the period when Aleksi Saarela sniped a shot on the power play to cut the Bridgeport advantage in half heading into the first intermission.

The second period belonged solely to the Sound Tigers, who found the back of the net in both the first and last minutes of the frame to blow the game wide open through 40 minutes of play. The Checkers were able to pull back within two thanks to Valentin Zykov’s 10th goal of the season in the latter moments of the third, but they could not spark a rally, and an empty net tally sealed the 5-2 victory for the Sound Tigers.

NOTES

The Checkers have now lost four games in a row, their longest such skid of the season … Charlotte’s longest road trip of the season ends with the team going 4-4-0 … Valentin Zykov’s goal was his 10th of the season, tying him for second in the AHL ... Charlotte's 16 shots on goal are the team's fewest this season'… Lucas Wallmark, Jake Chelios and Dennis Robertson all missed the game due to injury … Mike Ferrantino and Nick Schilkey served as healthy extras