A strong start set the tone for the home team. Mitch Vande Sompel wired in a shot from the right side 52 seconds in, then Noah Gregor carried a puck past an outstretched Phantoms netminder and buried it to double that lead just over a minute later. Jack Devine tacked on one more shortly after and the Checkers stood with a sizable 3-0 lead before the first period even reached its midway point.
That burst would serve as the only offense on the board for an extended stretch of play from there, and it was the Phantoms who would finally break through nearly eight minutes into the third. The visitors’ hopes of a rally were short lived, though, as Brian Pinho found the back of the net on an odd-man rush three minutes later to reestablish Charlotte’s big advantage.
Cooper Black was strong between the pipes - denying 23 of the 24 shots he faced - and held down the fort against Lehigh Valley’s final push. Pinho delivered one last nail in the coffin with an empty-net tally, and the Checkers skated away with an impressive 5-1 win.
Just beasting to the net on this one pic.twitter.com/2519qTFToc
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) March 21, 2026
QUOTES
Coach Geordie Kinnear on the disallowed goal in the third periodWe didn’t know if it went in or not, so that was the first thing. I didn’t have to use my challenge because they looked at it themselves, and then obviously they can’t reverse it with the hand on the puck. Obviously missed it, but we got the win. It seems like we need to make sure we clean that up because those are important moments in every game.
Kinnear on how two midweek losses led to this performance
You need to learn from them, and we learned some things. What I liked about the first period was not the score but how we were playing. I think that’s what it needs to look like, and for some reason it had gone away a little bit. I talked about the cost of the road trip and not a lot of practices and the fatigue part of it, which can be a factor, but again, sometimes when you don’t practice as much it’s hard to sustain that type of effort. I was happy we saw it in the first period, and we want to make sure we build off that first period. The second and third was more of a grinding style by both teams, and I was happy with how the guys had to dig in and win the type of game they were in for the last two periods. How we played in the first period was more familiar with the Charlotte way.
Kinnear on Brian Pinho
I think if you look at how far he’s come, at the start of the year, and to see the first period how we play as a group, it’s not an easy way to play. I believe it’s an extremely fun way to play, but it’s taken some time for him with a lot of the new personnel, but he’s bought in. It’s hard work and he knows that, but when you work hard and you start to think as one and how we play, it becomes a lot of fun for those guys. I think he’s having fun.
Kinnear on Mitch Vande Sompel
He's totally bought in to what we’re doing here. He was part of the group for the last two years and played in the playoffs the first year against Hartford. He didn’t play a lot for us the year before when he had the shoulder surgery, and he got to watch his teammates have a lot of fun, but deep down when you’re a competitor you want to be a part of those moments. I know he’s hungry to make this right and be a major contributor going forward. A great leader that leads by example, and I thought he led by example tonight. Not just with the goal, but the blocked shots and the commitment to winning.
Brian Pinho on this bounceback performance
I think we just wanted to get back to the way that we were playing before those two games we just had. I think right from the start, we did. That’s our game plan going in. We just want to push the pace and play our way, and we did.
Pinho on not having a prolonged losing streak this season
It’s obviously extremely important, especially once you get to playoffs. You never want to let it be a snowball effect when you’re losing. I think it was a great response from our group, and we just want to keep pushing ahead.
Pinho on the team being on the cusp of clinching a playoff spot
It’s really exciting. I missed playing in the playoffs, so I’m just looking forward. We’ve got to keep pushing and get ourselves in the best possible spot in the standings. We’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun in the playoffs here.
Pinho on Cooper Black
He’s been a rock back there for us all year. He made some big saves tonight and we have a lot of confidence in him. He’s a confident player, so we just need him to play his game and we want to play our game in front of him.
Pinho on the atmosphere late in the season
It was a lot of fun. The Red Line Club was packed with kids in between the periods screaming and yelling. We had a blast with it.
