The two squads struggled to gain ground in the first period, skating out to a scoreless frame, but Kevin Porter finally put the Griffins on the board under two minutes into the second. With several players taking whacks at a loose puck in front to no avail, Porter swooped in and put it past a sprawled out Drew MacIntyre to go up 1-0.
The Checkers evened things shortly after in the second, when Kyle Hagel collected a loose puck to the left of Grand Rapids goalie Jared Coreau and threw it toward the net from a bad angle. The puck deflected off something in front and found its way in to knot the game, which would hold up through the rest of the second frame.
After starting out slow with just five shots in the first frame, the Checkers began to gain some momentum and apply pressure to Coreau, but could not solve the rookie netminder, as he improved to 16-7-1 on the year. Three Charlotte players recorded over four shots in the game, including five from Phil Di Giuseppe, who led the team. While they were able to create more opportunities tonight than in their loss in Rockford on Wednesday, the Checkers never seemed to truly challenge Coreau, with their best chance coming on a Brock McGinn breakaway in which he rang a shot off the pipe.
The Checkers' penalty kill was once again the brightest spot for the team. They held the Griffins scoreless on three man advantages and have now killed 22 of their last 23 penalties. In net, MacIntyre returned to the crease after Tirronen and Muse took the last two starts and turned in a strong performance against a high-octane Griffins attack. Grand Rapids, who ranks first in the AHL in offense in terms of goals per game, fired 33 shots on net, with MacIntyre turning aside 31 of those.
The Checkers wrap up the 2014-15 campaign tomorrow night with a rematch against this same Grand Rapids team, who are looking to secure a Midwest Division title.