Checkers, Jack Devine Break Through in Third Period to Defeat Syracuse 4-1

The Checkers came through in the clutch Friday night, exploding for a huge third period that earned them a 4-1 victory over the Crunch.

The two sides were locked in a battle for the first 40 minutes of play. Syracuse opened the scoring midway through the first with a power-play strike, but that would be the only action on the scoreboard before the second intermission.

The home team came out firing for the final frame and flipped the script, though. Brian Pinho launched a shot past the Syracuse netminder on a man advantage just 19 seconds in to knot the game, then Jack Devine knocked home a rebound two minutes later to give Charlotte its first lead of the night.

The Checkers locked things down from there. Led by Cooper Black and his 17 stops, Charlotte weathered the Crunch’s final push and added two empty-net daggers to seal the deal in the 4-1 win.

QUOTES

Geordie Kinnear on Brian Pinho’s game
I think if you look at his game in general, he was a determined hockey player tonight. I’m happy for Pinner. He’s put a lot of work in the last couple of weeks. Guys come from (other) teams, we play a lot different than other teams, so it’s an adjustment period but I like how the new guys have really worked through it. Big goal for Pinner, big goal for the group and big goal for the power play. It’s been dry for a little bit, so important in the third period to score on the power play and a big penalty kill in the third. Cooper came up with a couple of key saves and the PK did a good job getting it done. Overall, a major building block.

Kinnear on Jack Devine’s first goal
You’ve got to fight for your ice and you’ve got to play the right way. Sometimes the hardest thing to do when there’s not a lot of space is stay committed to it, and I thought the guys did a good job of committing to how we want to play and got the job done in the third period.

Kinnear on Cooper Black
Very good. We’re asking a lot of Cooper for a second-year guy. A reasonable expectation for a second-year guy is to take a step, and he’s definitely taken that step. It’s been a big workload for him. I’m super proud of him and I know he comes to work every single day and works a lot with Sly Rodrigue, who behind the scenes does a fantastic job with our goalies. I know he’s done a great job with Cooper. We want Cooper to keep taking steps.

Jack Devine on his goals
First and foremost, it’s just a great team effort. The fact that, even though we were down 1-0, we rallied together there and really had a good period. We were able to get pressure on them and also show growth in our game and lock it down after getting that lead.

Devine on the power play
I think it’s just sticking with it. I’ve got a lot of belief in this group, and the fact that we know the plays were there and the bounces were going to come.

Devine on Cooper Black
He’s been great all year for us and coming up with timely saves, especially tonight in the third on that power play. I think he’s shown a lot of growth and he’s been awesome for us.

Devine on the crowd tonight
When this crowd gets going there’s so much energy and a lot of enthusiasm. For us as players we try to build off that and obviously continue the success.

NOTES

The Checkers have not lost consecutive games in regulation this season … Trevor Carrick played in his 700th AHL game, making him the 91st player to hit that milestone … Pinho’s power-play goal snapped a skid of 20 straight scoreless man advantages for Charlotte … This was Pinho’s second multi-point game of the season … This was Devine’s second three-point game of the season and the first two-goal game of his pro career … Jake Livingstone made his Checkers debut … Nolan Foote has points in back-to-back games … Ludvig Jansson, Mitch Vande Sompel, Ryan McAllister, Liam McLinskey, Eamon Powell, Colton Huard, Kai Schwindt, Tyler Motte and Jack Studnicka were the scratches for Charlotte