Gauthier's overtime goal lifts Thunderbirds past Checkers, reach semifinals

Julien Gauthier turned a winner-take-all Game 3 into Springfield’s springboard, scoring 14:50 into overtime to give the Thunderbirds a 2-1 victory over the Charlotte Checkers and a spot in the Atlantic Division semifinals. The decisive goal came at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday night, and it finished a first-round series that swung from disaster to comeback in three games.

Springfield’s advance carried real weight in AHL history. After losing Game 1 by an 8-1 margin on Wednesday, April 22, the Thunderbirds became the first team in Calder Cup Playoff history to win a series after dropping the opener by more than five goals. They answered with a 5-2 win in Game 2 on Friday, April 24, then survived the pressure points of a series decider in which Charlotte scored first again. That happened in all three games, and it nearly forced the Checkers into the next round.

Tobias Björnfot put Charlotte in front at 5:58 of the first period, but Springfield kept chipping away until Calle Rosén tied it at 5:45 of the third. That set the stage for overtime, where Gauthier drove the right side of the net and beat former teammate Cooper Black with a backhand to end it. Gauthier, a former Checker, had already left his mark in Charlotte before, scoring 27 goals on the club’s 2019 Calder Cup championship team. This one mattered more, because it sent his current team through.

Georgi Romanov gave Springfield the platform for the comeback. He made 34 saves in Game 3 and finished the series with a .955 save percentage across two starts, a number that tells the real story of how little margin Charlotte had after its fast start. Steve Ott’s club did not blink after falling behind early in the series, and now it will face the Providence Bruins, the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy winners, in the division semifinals.

Game 1 of Springfield’s best-of-five series with Providence is scheduled for Friday, May 1, at 7:05 p.m. at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence. Springfield arrives there not just as a survivor, but as a team that proved it can take a punch, absorb another, and still land the final blow.