Checkers Take Game 2 in Double Overtime

Captain Zac Dalpe sealed a hat trick with the game-winner in double overtime, a dozen Checkers found the scoresheet and goalie Joey Daccord put together a strong performance to send the Seattle Kraken's American Hockey League affiliate to a 7-6 Game 2 win Thursday over the Bridgeport Islanders in a second-round matchup of the AHL playoffs.

"Rollercoaster is an understatement, to be honest," coach Geordie Kinnear said after the game,
according to the Checkers' Paul Branecky
.
"I think it's a good lesson because we have a lot of guys that are young, first-year guys that are getting their first playoff experience. You talk about momentum, but until you go through it you don't really understand it and there were a lot of momentum swings tonight. We want to make sure that we keep learning lessons from each game and each shift and keep building."
Dalpe, who notched 30 goals to lead the team during the regular season, snapped a shot past goalie Jakub Skarek 3:36 into the second extra period for his third goal of the game and a 2-0 series lead for Charlotte, which earned a first-round bye as Atlantic Division champion.
The victory was an all-hands-on-deck affair, a slugfest. The team stood by Daccord, who played in five games with the Kraken this season, despite the flurry of goals. It paid off.

"The easy thing to do is always to pull the goalie, but if you want to take another step you've got to have some mental toughness and be able to dig in," Kinnear said according to the team website.
"Joey has been great for us all year and I thought the guys rallied around him. It's always a team effort. I though we left him high and dry on some of those grade-A (chances), and that's not our identity and not what we're about. We've got to clean that up, but for Joey I really liked the mental toughness and the 'dig in' throughout the game for him."
The Checkers will have a chance to sweep the best-of-five series on Saturday, when the series shifts to Charlotte.