Smith Hat Trick Powers Checkers To Season-Opening Win Over Hershey

Nate Smith put on a show on opening night, lighting the lamp three times to help power the Checkers past the Hershey Bears 5-2.

The first 40 minutes of play saw the two sides battling to maintain the upper hand. After the Bears opened the scoring early in the first frame, Smith hammered a cross-ice feed from Cole Schwindt to knot things up later in the period, then swung around a charging Bears netminder late in the second to push the visitors ahead. That lead would be short-lived, though, as Jacob MacDonald found the back of the net in the final minute of the second period to draw things even once again.

The Checkers would strike back in the third courtesy of none other than Smith, who pulled off a slick redirection to seal his first AHL hat trick and put Charlotte back in the driver’s seat. The visitors kept their foot on the gas from there, as Jack Devine tipped in a goal of his own minutes later and Will Bitten cashed in on an empty net late for the final dagger. Cooper Black posted 30 saves on the night and slammed the door on Hershey’s rally attempt, and the Checkers earned a big win in game one.

NOTES

Smith’s hat trick was his first as a pro and the first by a Checker since Sandis Villains on April 12 of last season … The Checkers have won each of their last three season openers and four of their last five … Matvei Shuravin made his North American pro debut … Black hit the 30-save mark five times last season … Dating back to last season the Checkers have won six straight road games ... Nate Bastian, Karsen Dorwart, Brian Pinho, Brett Chorske, Kasper Lundell, Phillip Tresca, Samu Salminen, Ludvig Jansson, Mitch Vande Sompel, Emil Pieniniemi, Matyas Man and Kirill Gerasimyuk were the scratches for Charlotte