Cooper Black made 35 saves, but the Charlotte Checkers (28-17-3-0) fell 4-0 to the Syracuse Crunch (30-16-3-1) on Friday night at Upstate Medical University Arena.
Gabriel Szturc (9:44) and Lucas Mercuri (14:22) scored for Syracuse in the first period, giving the Crunch a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Ethan Gauthier continued Syracuse’s success in the second period, notching a power-play goal 26 seconds into the middle stanza. Mercuri added another tally for the Crunch at 17:29.
Charlotte went 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. The Checkers will eye revenge on Saturday night with a 5 p.m. puck drop against the Crunch. Coverage of the game can be found on FloHockey and Mixlr.
NOTES
Liam McLinskey turned 25 years old today … Eamon Powell grew up 30 minutes from Syracuse in Marcellus, NY, … Jack Devine led the Checkers with four shots on goal … Black made 15 saves in the third period, keeping the Crunch off the board in the final stanza … Ludvig Jansson, Trevor Carrick, Mitch Vande Sompel, Kai Schwindt, Hunter St. Martin, Gracyn Sawchyn, Riese Gaber and Louis Domingue were scratched for Charlotte.
