Charlotte’s special teams took center stage as the Checkers topped the Rochester Americans for the second straight night.
Rookie Morgan Geekie opened the scoring just three minutes in with his first professional goal, but the Amerks potted a pair to give themselves their first lead of the weekend early on in the middle frame. The Charlotte power play struck minutes later however, with Andrew Poturalski popping home a loose puck out front, followed shortly after by a shorthanded breakaway conversion by Nicolas Roy to jump back ahead.
Roy kept his hot hand going later in the frame, lighting the lamp on the man advantage for his fourth tally in two games. That would prove to be all Charlotte needed, as Alex Nedeljkovic took his place between the pipes and made 34 saves to help lead the Checkers to a 2-0 start to the season.
NOTES
This marks the fourth 2-0-0 start in the Checkers’ nine AHL seasons and the second in a row. The team’s best-ever start was a 3-0-0 run in 2015-16 … At the game’s conclusion, Roy (4g, 2a) and Poturalski (2g, 3a) were the AHL’s top two scorers. Janne Kuokkanen (2g, 2a) was tied for third … Roy also led the league with four goals and 13 shots on goal and was tied for the lead in power-play goals (2) and shorthanded goals (1) … Charlotte has four power-play goals in six opportunities to start the season … Defenseman Michal Cajkovsky led the team in plus/minus (+2) for the second consecutive game. His plus-5 rating is tied for the league lead … Defenseman Josiah Didier missed the game due to injury … The Checkers have an all-time record of 4-1-1 against Rochester … Forwards Nick Schilkey and Zack Stortini and defenseman Michael Fora were healthy extras.
UP NEXT
The Checkers will return home for a week of practice before heading back out on the road for a contest against Utica next Friday.
