CHARLOTTE, NC– It took a little more drama than the first three games of the series, but the Checkers completed their sweep of the regular-season champion Laval Rocket on Tuesday night courtesy of a 3-2 victory.
With the game deadlocked at two and seemingly on a course for overtime, it was Jesse Puljujarvi that came through in the clutch – crashing into the offensive zone after a loose puck and burying it past a sprawling Laval netminder to give Charlotte its first lead of the night and eventually clinch a berth in the Calder Cup Finals.
Puljujarvi’s winner was the culmination of the Checkers clawing their way out of a 2-0 deficit. Justin Sourdif started the ascent out of that hole early in the second period when he sniped a shot off an odd-man rush, then Charlotte’s vaunted penalty kill evened the score minutes later. In the midst of killing a five-minute major penalty, Tobias Bjornfot and MacKenzie Entwistle broke loose on a rush, with the latter finding the back of the net to send a packed Bojangles Coliseum into a frenzy.
