Charlotte Checkers vs. Cleveland Monsters
They didn’t do it in a timely manner, but the Checkers pulled out a victory in their homecoming, vanquishing the Cleveland Monsters 3-2 in a shootout.

After the five-minute overtime period of three-on-three, the Checkers headed to a shootout for the first time this season. The goalies took center stage to start, shutting down the first three attempts from either side and forcing things into sudden death rounds. Jordan Maletta was called upon for the Monsters, but Nedeljkovic continued his strong run, slamming the door and setting the stage for a walk-off winner for Charlotte. Ulf Samuelsson went with team goals leader Valentin Zykov and chose correctly, as the Russian forward swooped in a buried a quick wrister low past Anton Forsberg to seal two points for the Checkers.

“We found a way to win,” said Samuelsson. “If you do that in our business, you should enjoy it.”

While Zykov clinched the game for Charlotte, it was Nedeljkovic who did a lot of the heavy lifting. The rookie netminder made a career-high 42 saves and was perfect in the shootout to pick up the win in his first start with the Checkers since Dec. 20.

“That was his best game in our uniform and I was excited for him,” said Samuelsson. “He looked confident after playing a couple of games in Florida and got a couple of wins there, so we were all excited for him.”

“I felt good,” said Nedeljkovic of his performance tonight. “They got a lot of shots in and that’s what you want as a goalie. You want to get a feel for the puck as quick as you can. Tonight was a good night for that.”

Nedeljkovic faced a tough task in the Monsters’ attack, as they boast several high-end scoring threats. Perhaps the biggest chance he saw was a breakaway by Sonny Milano in overtime that he stonewalled, then used that momentum to carry him in the shootout.

“You’ve got to be patient and take away his time and space, so if he the puck you can react to it and if he makes a move he makes it right into you,” said Nedeljkovic. “The biggest thing is staying patient with every situation.”

The play of the young netminder emanated out from the crease and helped give a boost to the rest of the team in a game that they were outshot by nearly double.

“He was on fire today,” said Trevor Carrick. “I don’t know if he was just excited to get back from Florida or whatever it was, but he stole that game. If it wasn’t for him it would have been 4-1 or 5-1 or something like that. He had a hell of a game.”

Carrick made his return tonight after missing the last 18 games due to injury. He played a restricted number of minutes to help ease his way back into game action, but was happy just to get back out with his team.

“I felt good after not playing for almost two months or whatever it was,” said Carrick. “You get back with the boys and you’ve got a lot of energy. I felt good in the first period and the lungs kind of caught up to me in the second and third. I didn’t play a whole lot but I knew that going in. I just wanted to get my feet under me and get back into it. It was a good first game.

“It’s definitely tough not being there and knowing there’s not a whole lot you can do with being injured. It makes you want to go back out there playing and doing whatever you can to help win.”

Getting last year’s leading scorer among defensemen, even for a few minutes, was a help for the Checkers as a whole.

“You get those guys that have been here a couple of years that know how to play the game at a professional level and how to react at certain times – it’s good for everybody and calms everybody down,” said Nedeljkovic. “They make tough plays look easy and give everybody that confidence.”

The Checkers held two leads tonight, but saw the Monsters storm back each time to even the score. Even while under heavy fire late – Cleveland outshot Charlotte 28-12 in the final two periods – the Checkers found a way to fight through and win, a testament to their drive.

“You’ve got to try to find a way to get some more energy because we weren’t quite up to our full tank that we usually have,” said Samuelsson. “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the guys because they hung in there against a very good team, battled hard and found a way to get two points.”

After a rough start to the year, the Checkers have showed signs of turning their season around. Tonight’s win in front of a passionate crowd was a positive sign, hopefully of things to come.

“Anytime you go on a little bit of a skid or lose games more than you win the atmosphere isn’t that great,” said Nedeljkovic. “You get a couple of wins under your belt and string a few together and it’s a complete 360. It’s more fun when you’re winning. It’s great for everybody’s confidence and it’s great for the atmosphere. The harder we work the more results we’ll get.”

NOTES

Nedeljkovic’s 42 saves were the most by a Checkers goalie this season … The Checkers were the last AHL team to go to a shootout this season … Zykov’s shootout attempt was the first of his career … Carrick played for the first time since Nov. 27 after missing the previous 18 games due to injury … The Checkers improved to 9-4-0 at home this season, with their 13 games played at home still marking the fewest in the league … The Checkers have won their last two games, marking just their third win streak of the season and first since Dec. 13-14 … Cleveland, which now has a six-point lead over the Checkers for the last playoff spot in the Central Division heading into tomorrow’ rematch, had won 11 of its last 15 contests ... Forwards Andrew Miller and Brendan Woods missed the game due to injury … Forwards Mitchell Heard and Kris Newbury and defenseman Kevin Raine were healthy extras.