Checkers News

The Checkers saw their recent hot streak come to an end as the Iowa Wild netted a late game-winner to prevail 4-3.

Charlotte came out firing as Justin Shugg continued his scoring tear, finding the back of the net just 59 seconds in to put the Checkers ahead. Iowa answered with a strike late in the period and then added another early in the second to jump ahead, but a Chad LaRose redirection knotted things back up heading into the final frame.

After a slew of chances both ways in the third, Carter Sandlak put the home team on top with just over six minutes remaining when he collected a loose puck in traffic and put it past Iowa goalie John Curry. The Wild’s Jonathan Blum responded less than a minute later, and then it was Jason Gregoire who ripped a shot top shelf with under three minutes to play to clinch the Iowa victory.

Tonight’s loss comes just six days after a similar last-minute goal cost the Checkers a game against Norfolk. After that contest, head coach Jeff Daniels took the team to task for their effort level, but that didn’t seem to be the case tonight.

“More mental mistakes at the end there,” said Daniels, comparing the two games. “We made a couple of bad mental plays that you can’t make at the end of the game or any point. Hopefully young mistakes and we’ve got to learn from them.”

The Checkers controlled a solid amount of the game and had their fair share of chances, but once again came undone down the stretch.

“We’ve got to play hard,” said defenseman Ryan Murphy, who tied his career high with three assists. “We can’t play on our heels and I think that’s what happened. We were playing right in their hands. I think we should have stayed on the gas and kept playing the hockey that got us the lead in the first place.”

The Checkers biggest chance came in the final minute when, after Iowa took a delay of game penalty, they pulled goalie Drew MacIntyre to give them a six-on-four advantage. While the opportunities were there, the team couldn’t quite find the net.

“I thought we had a couple of good chances and a couple of good looks,” said Daniels. “I think Homer [Holmstrom] at the side of the net there. There were some looks to tie it but it just wasn’t bouncing our way.”

“There was one at the side of the net where he had an empty cage but the puck was just bouncing on him,” said Murphy, who was running the point during the two-man advantage. “It was unfortunate, but we had some chances and we worked hard right to the buzzer. Unfortunately we didn’t come up with the points.”

The loss snapped the Checkers’ points streak, which had reached six games at home and four overall. The team will see a quick turnaround for a three-game round swing. They will visit Norfolk Wednesday before heading to Texas to take on the Stars in back-to-back contests this weekend.

While that string of success proved that they can be a competitive team, tonight’s loss showed that the team still has a ways to go.

“We’ve just got to learn. You can’t beat yourselves,” said Daniels. “That’s the biggest thing right now.”

“We’ve got to keep working,” said Murphy. “We’ve got a young group in there and everyone understands how to play to get a win. We went on a little bit of a winning streak there with a couple of games and that’s something to build off of for us. We know that we can win and we know that we can play with the good teams.”

NOTES

The Checkers’ four-game point streak (3-0-1) and six-game home point streak (5-0-1) both came to an end … Murphy tied his career high for assists and points, set once previously Jan. 24, 2014 … Shugg is now tied for the Checkers’ lead with eight goals on the season. His last goal against Norfolk on Dec. 2 also came in the first minute of the game … Sandlak has two goals on just four shots this season … Iowa defenseman Matt Dumba posted a goal, an assist and a plus-4 rating … The Checkers went 0-for-4 on the power play, dropping them to 1-for-19 (5.3 percent) over their last seven games … Patrick Brown returned to the lineup after missing 11 games … Forwards Greg Nemisz and Brody Sutter missed the game due to injury … Defenseman Dennis Robertson was a healthy extra.