CHARLOTTE 2, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 1 (OT)
Brett Sutter buried his third goal of the playoffs at 5:40 of overtime on Monday as Charlotte gutted out a 2-1 win over visiting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Time Warner Cable Arena to grab a 2-1 lead in the East Division Finals.
The Checkers will host Game 4 on Wednesday night and Game 5 on Friday night, and the Penguins will need to win at least one of those two contests to send the series back to Wilkes-Barre for Game 6.
AHL All-Rookie forward Zac Dalpe and Jacob Micflikier each picked up an assist on the overtime winner by Sutter, who has now registered at least one point in seven of his first nine postseason outings (3-5-8). The goal marked Sutter’s first of this series after tallying a pair in Charlotte’s opening-round win over Hershey.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton entered the night 3-0 on the road this postseason, and the Penguins got off to a quick start when Chris Collins lit the lamp 13:23 after the opening face-off. Tim Wallace earned the lone assist on Collins’s second goal of the postseason.
Charlotte tied it up at 9:45 of the second frame on a strike by Nick Dodge, who has now collected four postseason goals (4-2-6) after totaling five markers (5-8-13) in 57 regular-season contests.
Checkers goaltender Mike Murphy captured the victory with 26 saves in net, while AHL goaltender of the year Brad Thiessen made 21 stops in the losing effort for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
East Division Finals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
E1-W-B/Scranton Penguins vs. E3-Charlotte Checkers || Preview
Game 1 – Thu., Apr. 28 – Charlotte 3, W-B/SCRANTON 2
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 30 – W-B/SCRANTON 3, Charlotte 0
Game 3 – Mon., May 2 – CHARLOTTE 2, W-B/Scranton 1 (OT)
Game 4 – Wed., May 4 – W-B/Scranton at Charlotte, 7:00
Game 5 – Fri., May 6 – W-B/Scranton at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 6 – Sat., May 7 – Charlotte at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 7 – Mon., May 9 – Charlotte at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
