Midway through the third period of Sunday’s game, it looked as if the Wild were going to avenge their loss from the previous night. The Checkers had other plans.

Down 4-1, Charlotte’s rally began with Derek Ryan hammering home a rebound on the power play for his first North American goal. Rookie Brett Pesce followed up with a tally of his own, spinning and firing a laser top shelf to pull the Checkers within one with less than five minutes to go in regulation. The Wild gifted the Checkers another power play shortly after and Trevor Carrick took advantage, ripping a blast from the point through traffic and in to knot the game at four and force overtime.

The newly established 3-on-3 overtime format was as high-octane as you would expect, with the teams trading excellent chances back and forth, but neither side could break through and the game proceeded on to a shootout.

In the shootout, rookie netminder Rasmus Tirronen, who entered the game in the third period to relieve Drew MacIntyre, turned aside each of the two shooters he faced with impressive pad saves. For the Checkers, newcomers T.J. Hensick and Sergey Tolchinsky each found twine on their attempts to complete the comeback and clinch the two points for the Checkers.

Charlotte Checkers Iowa WildScore Sheet
The Checkers, who only scored four or more goals on the road five times last season, have reached that mark in each of their first two contests this year. Five different players recorded multi-point games (Pesce, Carrick, Ryan, Hensick and Justin Shugg), while the team held the Wild to just eight total shots in the second and third frames, helping them dominate the play most of the game. Even so, the Wild notched four unanswered tallies in those two periods to build their three-goal lead, including one shorthanded blast.

MacIntyre was chased from the game three minutes into the third period after surrendering the fourth Wild goal. While the veteran looked sharp early, the second and third periods saw large chunks of time come and go without the Wild even controlling the puck on the Charlotte side of the ice, and when Iowa was able to put pucks on net, they were finding their way in. Tirronen, who appeared in one game for the Checkers at the tail end of last season, played the remainder of the third period without seeing a shot and then stood tall in the chaotic overtime and shootout.

The Checkers return to Charlotte for a week of practice with a 2-0-0-0 record, just the second time in franchise history that they have won their first two contests. They will head to Milwaukee on Friday looking to start 3-0-0-0 for the first time ever.

NOTES

Head coach Mark Morris is now tied for ninth all-time with 340 AHL victories ... Justin Shugg scored his 50th AHL goal ... Brett Pesce scored his first pro goal ... Derek Ryan notched his first goal and point as a pro in North America ... Justin Shugg, T.J. Hensick and Phil Di Giuseppe have all recorded points in each of the last two games ... Forwards Erik Karlsson and Carter Sandlak and defensemen Jake Chelios and Tyler Ganly were healthy extras, while Danny Biega made his season debut