While Gerasimyuk pitched a gem on one side, the Islanders did their best to keep the Charlotte attack at bay. The first tally of the narrowly contested tilt came in the final four minutes of the second period, when Noah Gregor jumped out on a shorthanded break and pulled off a one-handed feed across the crease to a crashing Jack Studnicka, who punched it in and gave the home side the lead.
That would prove to be enough for the Checkers, who continued to lock the Isles down from there. With just over 30 ticks remaining Tobias Bjornfot found the empty net with a full-ice shot, putting the finishing touch on Charlotte’s weekend sweep.
What a hustle play from Gregor and Studnicka! pic.twitter.com/fEoBdtqSJW
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) March 14, 2026
QUOTES
Coach Geordie Kinnear on Kirill GerasimyukI have confidence in all of the guys. You look at yesterday, Louis (Domingue) comes in after a long road trip and does his job, and then Kirill comes in and does a job tonight. I thought in the second period on the four-minute power play he was our best player and allowed us to stay up 1-0, which was a huge moment in the game for me.
Kinnear on Gerasimyuk’s improvement
With the growth, there’s always ups and downs as with any player, but especially as a young player coming over to the U.S. If you look at it, a three-week road trip is not easy for a guy like that probably doesn’t do that very often. We went through the ups and downs on the road trip, and then he came back and got his battery recharged and had a good week with Sly (goalie coach Sylvaine Rodrigue), then obviously pitched a shutout today.
Kinnear on the penalty kill
We have a certain way and certain belief in how we want to kill, and if you look at the road trip a little bit, there weren’t a lot of kills, but we kind of had some big moments where we didn’t get the job done and kind of lost our identity a little bit. We discussed that, so I was happy to see they got back to it. A good power play and obviously some elite players on the other side, so your goaltender has to be your best penalty killer, and I thought he was. What I liked tonight though, to be honest, was that I always talk to the guys that you have to win the game in your end, and sometimes you have to pay a price to keep the puck out of the net and block shots. It’s not always going to be pretty and you’re not always going to out-shoot teams, but you’ve got to win the game in your end. I thought the guys did a real good job of that tonight, because it wasn’t an easy game.
Jack Studnicka on his shorthanded goal
We like to play aggressive, as you can see. Don’t’ sit back and allow them time and space, and that’s resulted in seven goals so far, so that’s great.
Studnicka on support from the home crowd
I really heard it in the third period with like a minute left. They know the game of hockey, which is really cool to be a part of. It’s great, and I love the support they give us.
Studnicka on playing with Noah Gregor
It’s been great. It’s been a while since Gregs has been down here, but he’s handled it like a true professional and works as hard as he can every single game. It’s been fun to see his journey, and it’s been nice to have someone to go along with.
Studnicka on Gerasimyuk
He’s great. He’s a gamer, man. Full confidence when he’s in the net. He’s a popular guy in the room, so it’s easy to play in front of him.
