Charlotte Checkers celebration
It came down to the wire, but the Checkers were finally able to get the winless monkey off their back Tuesday night by beating the Chicago Wolves 3-2 in a shootout.

The Checkers stifled the Wolves through the first two periods, holding them to just eight shots on goal. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to secure a lead, as Brody Sutter’s go-ahead strike late in the first was erased early in the second by Ivan Barbashev and the game proceeded into the third knotted at two.

Charlotte’s notoriously lethal power play broke through quickly in the third, with two of the new additions factoring in as Blair Jones fed a pass to Trevor Carrick, whose blast was redirected in by Andrew Miller. But despite being suffocated and only registering four shots in the frame, the Wolves found an answer as Andre Benoit swooped into the play on a man advantage and potted a one-time pass from across the slot to even things once again. Try as they might, the Checkers couldn’t find the equalizer down the stretch, and the game headed for overtime.

John MuseScore SheetPhoto Gallery
In typical three-on-three fashion, the overtime provided a whirlwind of action, with the teams exchanging odd-man rushes. While the Checkers couldn’t quite finish their opportunities, it was John Muse who played the hero role, making several fantastic saves to keep the Wolves at bay and send the game to a shootout.

The Checkers went with a somewhat unusual choice for their first shooter, as Brody Sutter took his first shootout attempt of the season and buried it around the outstretched leg of Jordan Binnington. The next two Charlotte shooters were denied, but the Sutter strike proved to be enough as Muse stepped up and stonewalled all three Wolves attempts, securing a crucial two points for the Checkers and snapping a franchise-worst winless streak on home ice.

“Every point is important, and they’ve been hard to come by,” said head coach Mark Morris. “I thought we had a real solid effort from all four lines and a sensational job by John Muse. He was the difference.”

Just a week removed from joining the team on the day of the NHL trade deadline, Muse turned in a strong performance between the pipes, shaking off the two goals and stopping a barrage of shots in overtime.

With such little pressure put on him by the Wolves during regulation, Muse spent long stretches without Chicago getting much sustained pressure. Those lulls didn’t disrupt him, though.

“They didn’t have many shots, but they had a good amount of zone time and I played the puck a good amount, so I felt like I stayed in the game regardless of how many shots they were getting,” said Muse. “I was ready to go in overtime when they had their chances.”

Charlotte’s new-look lineup, jumbled heavily after several transactions over the last two weeks, showed some of the spark it was intended to produce, with Miller and Jones each recording their first points as Checkers and the new line combinations breathing some life into the team.

“I was real happy with the new faces and what they brought,” said Morris. “I thought the whole team brought a real determined effort and it’s nice to see that. It’s fresh motivation. In-house competition is good for a team and we saw it tonight. Everybody had a lot of jump in the pregame skate and there’s a lot of numbers now. Guys have to earn their ice time and earn their playing time. Competition is a difference maker, for sure.”

For just having met the team this morning, the new guys were able to impact the game heavily.

“It took a few periods to get acclimated there but I think I found my stride there in the third period,” said Miller. “It was kind of tough at first finding guys but I think it started to click in the end. I think it’s just a little bit of familiarity and reading off the guys a little bit. I think we got better as the game went on.”

The Checkers haven’t had much luck during this slump, so being tied late in the game despite severely outplaying their opponents was a bit of a cloud over their heads.

“Our stomachs were in knots,” said Morris of the feeling on the bench in the third. “We’ve had so many tough breaks, and you look at that game, even in overtime we’re coming down to the wire, a guy gets tripped and you’re hoping you get a penalty shot out of it and it doesn’t happen and you have to go into a shootout. It’s never easy.”

Fortunately for them, they were able to pull it off, hopefully signaling a shift in the direction that the team has been trending.

“From what I understand the black jerseys haven’t won, so maybe we broke the curse, I don’t know,” Morris said jokingly. “The fans that were here were certainly very supportive and hopefully we can build on that win and go on a stretch run here.”

The Checkers will look to keep the ball rolling when they face off with this same Chicago team Thursday night.

NOTES

This was Charlotte’s first victory at Bojangles’ Coliseum since Jan. 23, ending a franchise-record, eight-game winless streak at home (0-7-1) … Chicago’s 18 shots tied the lowest amount Charlotte has allowed this season. The Wolves had 12 through regulation time, which would have eclipsed Charlotte’s franchise record of 17 … Charlotte had five new players, all forwards, in their lineup since their previous game on Saturday … Miller and Blair Jones (assist) each found the score sheet in their Checkers debuts … Tonight marked just the third time in 24 games that the Checkers led after the first period (1-0) … Charlotte improved to 2-2-2 against Chicago this season … Sutter now has four shootout goals on eight career attempts … Muse improved to 9-5 in career AHL shootouts … Eight of Charlotte’s 14 overtime games this season have gone to a shootout … Prior to tonight, the Checkers had lost each of their last four overtime/shootout games … Forward Valentin Zykov and defensemen Danny Biega and Rasmus Rissanen missed the game due to injury … Forwards Dane Fox and Erik Karlsson were healthy extras.