Image courtesy of the @WBSPenguins X account.The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' quest for 40 wins will have to wait another day, as the Charlotte Checkers avenged a 5-3 loss on Saturday by returning the favor in Sunday's rematch with a 5-2 victory.
In a completely different performance from their victory on Saturday, the Penguins were outshot in every period and failed to score on four power-play opportunities, leading to Sergei Murashov's first AHL defeat.
The rookie goalie was a perfect 11-0-0 entering the afternoon and finished the day with 32 saves on 35 shots as the Checkers scored two empty net goals at 18:01 and 18:52 of the third.
Earlier, in the first, Charlotte jumped out 2-0 with goals from Matt Kiersted and former Penguins player Jesse Puljujarvi scoring the other.
Atley Calvert's sixth of the year cut the deficit to 2-1 in the middle period before Valtteri Puustinen scored at 1:38 of the third to tie things up at 2-2.
However, John Leonard scored a power-play goal at 3:47 before scoring the first empty goal for his second of the day, earning first-star honors.
Kaapo Kahkonen picked up the win for the home team, turning away 24 shots and surrendering only two goals to improve to 5-2-0 since joining the Checkers.
The Penguins (37-19-7-1) return to action on April 4 when they travel to Cleveland to face the Monsters for a Friday and Saturday set.