Charlotte Checkers Score Three Goals in 90 Seconds, Roll Past Lehigh Valley 5-1
Brian Pinho scored twice in the third period and finished with three points as Charlotte buried Lehigh Valley 5-1, scoring three times in the opening 90 seconds.
Three goals in 90 seconds is not an opening. It's a verdict.
The Charlotte Checkers pounced on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms before they could find their footing Saturday afternoon, building a 3-0 lead in the opening minutes and cruising to a 5-1 decision. The win snapped a two-game losing streak and reasserted Charlotte's dominance of this particular matchup: the Checkers improved to 5-0-0 against the Phantoms, who fell to 0-3-2 in the season series.
The damage came fast. Mitch Vande Sompel scored his third goal of the season and Noah Gregor notched his 10th, with the pair delivering back-to-back strikes in the first 125 seconds of the contest. Vande Sompel's came first, wiring a shot from the right side just 52 seconds in. Gregor followed by carrying a puck past an outstretched Phantoms netminder and burying it to double the lead. Rookie Jack Devine, recording his 16th goal of the season, made it 3-0 at 8:15 of the first period.
After that early avalanche, both teams went quiet for a long stretch. The Phantoms finally cracked the sheet in the third period, with Oscar Eklind's eighth goal of the season breaking Cooper Black's shutout bid. Any thoughts of a comeback evaporated quickly. David Jiricek carried the puck in deep looking for a wraparound, but his drop pass sailed through and created an odd-man rush the other way, which Brian Pinho buried at 10:50 to put Charlotte back up by three at 4-1. Pinho then added a backhand from the neutral zone that found the empty net to complete the scoring.
Pinho capped the day with a pair of third-period goals after providing a helper in the first, finishing with a three-point performance and recording his second three-point game of the season. Cooper Black picked up his 21st win of the season in net for Charlotte.
Charlotte's power play finished 0-for-the-game, extending a brutal stretch of 0-for-36 over the last 15 games, but it hardly mattered on Saturday. The Checkers didn't need the man advantage when they could score three times before most fans had settled into their seats.
The Phantoms and Checkers were set to rematch Sunday at 1:00 p.m. to close out the two-game Charlotte visit, with Lehigh Valley needing to find answers in a hurry before the series moved on.
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