After opening the scoring late in the first, the Gulls saw their lead erased midway through the middle frame when Brody Sutter redirected a seeing-eye wrister from Patrick Brown. The tie game didn’t last long, however, as Charlotte native Bryan Moore scored on a deflection in front to send San Diego into the second intermission on top.
The Checkers pushed back in the third, outshooting the visitors 10-4, and finally broke through with a power-play one timer from Brendan Woods in the last two minutes of regulation. Woods’ seventh tally of the season secured one point in the standings for the Checkers and forced the contest into overtime.
The Checkers’ offense continues to sputter, as tonight marked the seventh time in eight games that they were unable to score more than two goals. They continued to create the chances, but simply couldn’t find a way to put the puck in the net.
“We’re going to need some more guys to step up and start to produce for us because the opportunities are there,” said head coach Mark Morris. “We’ve got to find a way to score a few more goals.”
The game-tying goal came on the man advantage, which continues to be the Checkers’ strongest suit. But the key for the team seems to be converting those chances in other situations.
“As we find ourselves in a crunch for games here with less calls and then less calls in the playoffs, we’ve got to find a way to score five-on-five,” said Justin Shugg, who returned to the lineup from injury. “We can’t rely on our power play every night.”
As they have over the last few games, the Checkers were able to ramp up their pressure over the course of the game, dominating long stretches in the third period before scoring their second goal. But a slow start, with just three shots in the first frame, seemed to doom them in the end.
“Our starts aren’t great and that’s something we’ve got to focus on,” said Shugg. “We’ve got to find a way to play a whole 60 instead of 30 minutes.”
“I thought we were extremely sleepy in the first period,” said Morris. “We were not prepared to compete. Progressively we got stronger but their goalie was exceptional and made some unbelievable saves.
“We’re doing our darndest to make sure we’re thorough with getting these guys prepared. It’s got to come from within the room and we’ll continue to try to steer them on the right path, but this is something we’ve got to figure out.”
Though their winless streak continues to roll on, the Checkers were able to snap a five-game regulation losing streak with tonight’s overtime decision, putting a shred of positive news in the result.
“We gained a point when it looked like we weren’t going to get any at all, and on the plus side we’re getting scoring chances,” said Morris. “We’ve just got to be a little bit sharper defensively.”
The Checkers will wrap up this long home stand with a rematch against the Gulls tomorrow night. They’ll be looking to build off the late game push they showed tonight and get back on track to start digging themselves out of this hole.
“We’ve just got to stay positive,” said Shugg. “We know hard work beats skill at the end of the day. There’s a ton of skilled teams in this league, and if we bring it every night and if everybody gives 105 and 110 percent, we’re going to come out with two points a lot of the times.
“We showed resiliency in the middle of the year and we’ve got to find a way to bring that culture and atmosphere back.”