Much like their last meeting, the offense was sparse through the first two frames, as the teams remained deadlocked at one heading into the third. Ryan Carpenter quickly put the home team ahead in the third when he fought his way through a pile up in front of the Checkers’ net to put the puck home. The Checkers continued to search for the equalizer for the rest of the frame, which finally came in the final five minutes of regulation when Sergey Tolchinsky threaded a pass back door to Jake Chelios who hammered it home, forcing the game to overtime.
The extra frame did not start out well for the Checkers, with Derek Ryan taking a penalty just 15 seconds in, followed by a too many men bench minor to give the Barracuda a 5-on-3 advantage for nearly a full two minutes. But Charlotte’s penalty kill unit, in conjunction with several jaw-dropping saves by Altshuller, weathered the storm. The penalties weren’t done, however, as Ryan was slapped with another minor with 30 seconds remaining to give the Barracuda one last chance. But the Checkers came through and survived their way to a shootout.
Despite ultimately coming up short, the late goal by Chelios to force overtime earned the Checkers a point in the standings, extending their point streak to a franchise-record eight games. It also stands as the longest active streak in the AHL.
While the Checkers’ offense struggled to find the back of the net, it was Altshuller’s play that kept them in today’s game. The second-year pro made 32 stops, including four clutch saves in an overtime period in which his team was shorthanded nearly the whole time. Altshuller, who came away with multiple highlight-reel stops, improved to 4-0-1 in his AHL career, the best five-game start to a Charlotte goalie’s rookie year since John Muse won five straight in 2011-12.
Ryan was held off the score sheet in consecutive games for the first time this season, but other forward’s offensive rolls continued. Brock McGinn, Jake Chelios and T.J. Hensick each recorded points to extend their personal point streaks to four games, while Tolchinsky lit the lamp for the first time in eight games on his way to his second career multi-point game.
The Checkers will have two days to regroup and get on with their California road trip, taking on the powerhouse Ontario Reign Saturday and Sunday.