CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (3-3-1-1) saw another standout performance from their young netminder in a 2-1 victory over the Charlotte Checkers (5-3-0-0) on Saturday night inside Bojangles Coliseum. 

Both teams exchanged minor penalties and unsuccessful, abbreviated power plays in the opening four minutes, but the Springfield man-advantage got another crack and opened the scoring at 5:51. After wrestling the puck out of a board scrum, Michael Buchinger freed it up and dropped it back to Theo Lindstein at point position. The second-year blueliner danced toward middle ice before firing a seeing-eye wrister past Kirill Gerasimyuk's glove, giving Springfield the 1-0 edge.

That proved to be enough for Will Cranley to hold the T-Birds lead into the intermission, as the second-year backstop denied each of Charlotte's seven shot attempts. 

The game's pace grinded to a halt in the second period, as both teams paraded their ways into the sin bin. The teams would combine for 28 penalty minutes and seven separate power play opportunities, but despite all the chaos, shots were a scarcity, with Charlotte launching only six attempts at Cranley, while Springfield managed just four at Gerasimyuk.

Oskar Sundqvist had the T-Birds' best chance to extend the 1-0 lead, but the veteran forward rattled the crossbar with a high-rising wrister. 

After beginning the weekend 0-for-7 on their power play, the Checkers did finally cash in with just 27 seconds left in the period as Jack Devine funneled a wrister from point position over Cranley's glove, tying the score and sending a 1-1 game into the third for a second straight evening.

As was the case on Friday, shots on goal heavily favored the Checkers for the game and especially in the third, as Charlotte twirled 15 pucks on Cranley. However, the T-Birds proved opportunistic, as Jack Finley found a loose puck in the left circle near the boards and whipped a perfect blind cross-ice feed to Dylan Peterson, who punched a shot through Gerasimyuk to restore the T-Birds lead, 2-1, at 6:32 of the third.

Peterson's clutch tally would be all Cranley needed, as the Springfield penalty kill dispatched two additional Charlotte power plays to bring the game to its finish line. Cranley finished with 27 stops and has now turned away 111 of 116 shots over his first four starts.

The T-Birds now return home with a 3-1-0-0 road record to begin their season, as Springfield looks to find its home ice advantage when they open a five-game homestand on Friday, Oct. 30 at 7:05 p.m. against the Providence Bruins.

2026-27 season and individual game tickets are on sale now. Reserve your seats at SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or call (413) 739-GOAL (4625).