The Checkers came out of the gates firing, dominating most of the first period and ripping three shots clean off the post, but couldn’t find a way to put the puck in the back of the net and the two squads entered the second scoreless.
It was Charlotte’s third line of Brendan Woods, Brody Sutter and Patrick Brown that kickstarted things for the home team in the second, with Sutter and Woods each putting one pasts Moose goalie Eric Comrie to give the Checkers a two-goal lead.
The Moose wouldn’t roll over, however, withstanding the Checkers’ pressure and finding some offense of their own. John Albert put the visitors on the board late in the second, and then it was Austen Brassard who tied the game with under six minutes left, firing in a one-timer from the slot. Neither team could find the equalizer in the remainder of regulation and the game proceeded to overtime.
Aside from the overtime winner, the Checkers’ offense was entirely propelled by their third line tonight. Sutter and Woods each lit the lamp in regulation, with Brown notching a helper on each goal. There emergence of late has helped ratchet up the team’s production and take some of the weight off their top scorers.
“They’re big bodies and playing with a bit more confidence and jump in their stride,” said head coach Mark Morris. “They’re a big part of our team and they can play heavy minutes and a big, physical role for us. At the same time, when they’re scoring they add great depth to our team.”
“I think we really started to get some chemistry going and we just carried that over to Suttsy’s goal against Grand Rapids and then brought it into tonight,” said Woods. “We had a talk with coach after the first period and things are just now starting to click and go in for us. They’re not pretty goals, but those are the kind of goals we’re expected to score in front of the net.”
Amidst several lineup shuffles that Morris has employed this season, that trio has largely remained together and for good reason.
“We’ve kind of noticed over the year that we’re the three guys that stick together, which is fine,” said Woods. “We all feed off each other and read off each other and things are now offensively starting to go our way on the other end of things.”
Morris even tapped the line for several key penalty kills, including one in the last minute of a tie game.
“It’s great to be looked at as someone that he has trust in key situations at the end of the game and getting thrown out in the last couple of minutes trying to hold a lead,” said Woods. “You can look at last year being the guy to put the goal into the net rather than this year where we’ve got a couple of new guys in the organization that can score. It just shows that we’re versatile players in any kind of role.”
As far as the overtime winner goes, Werek, who signed a PTO with the Checkers in December, continues to be a force in the lineup, positioning himself in the right spot to snap the game-winner.
“I was just getting open for it,” said Werek. “From the top of the circles in, I’m always ready because you never know if there will be a rebound or a pass. There’s a lot of crazy bounces in this game. Whatever it was, I was ready for it.”
The forward, who began this season with the Florida Everblades, now has six points, including five goals, in eight games with Charlotte. His high level of play has forced the coaches to keep in the lineup, even with incoming players Phil Di DiGiuseppe and Brock McGinn forcing a shakeup.
“It really helps knowing that coach has confidence in me,” said Werek. “Late in the game I was out for a goal and he easily could have buried me but he had the confidence to come back to me. I can’t tell you how great that is as player to know that the coach has confidence in you to go out there and try to win the game. It’s huge.”
The game ended in a bit of controversy as the Moose were adamant that Werek’s shot went off the post and never crossed the goal line. But the forward knew his snipe was on target.
“It just went to the inside bar right in the net there,” said Werek. “It went in, and then there was a lot of uncertainty on the ice and I wasn’t sure what was going on. The light went on, the ref waved it in and then there was all this commotion and it was a little confusing. I was pretty confident it went in.”
Morris offered his strategy on what to do during all the commotion and protest. “Turn the lights out,” said Morris.
The Checkers will face the Moose again Sunday evening at 5:30.