Michael Carcone scored his third goal of the night with 7:29 gone in overtime and Toronto evened up the Eastern Conference Finals with a 4-3 win over Charlotte at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Thursday.
The pivotal Game 5 of the best-of-seven is set for Friday night in Toronto (7 ET, AHLTV, TSN2).
Carcone carried the puck through the neutral zone, reached the right-wing circle and snapped a shot past Alex Nedeljkovic to complete his first career hat trick. Carcone’s four points were also a personal best.
Charlotte led twice in the third period but the Marlies pulled even both teams. Carcone got a piece of Jesper Lindgren‘s point shot to make it 2-2 with 14:53 remaining, and Jeremy Bracco banked a shot off Nedeljkovic from a low angle to tie it at 3-3 with 8:44 to play.
Nicolas Roy (shorthanded), Jesper Sellgren and Andrew Poturalski (power play) scored for the Checkers.
Back in net after being pulled after two periods of work in Game 3, Kasimir Kaskisuo (9-2) made 29 saves to pick up the win for Toronto.
Nedeljkovic (7-3) finished with 24 stops for the Checkers.
The Marlies are 3-0 in overtime this postseason and have now won eight consecutive playoff OT games, tied for the third-longest such streak in AHL history.
Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M” (best-of-7)
A1-Charlotte Checkers vs. N3-Toronto Marlies
Game 1 – Fri., May 17 – Toronto 2, CHARLOTTE 1 | Recap/Highlights
Game 2 – Sat., May 18 – CHARLOTTE 5, Toronto 3 | Recap/Highlights
Game 3 – Tue., May 21 – Charlotte 5, TORONTO 1 | Recap/Highlights
Game 4 – Thu., May 23 – TORONTO 4, Charlotte 3 (OT)
Game 5 – Fri., May 24 – Charlotte at Toronto, 7:00, AHLTV, TSN2
Game 6 – Sun., May 26 – Toronto at Charlotte, 7:00, AHLTV
*Game 7 – Tue., May 28 – Toronto at Charlotte, 7:00, AHLTV
*if necessary… All times Eastern