Down by a goal late in regulation and looking to strike with the extra attacker, the Checkers saw the Thunderbirds hit the empty net from the length of the ice to go ahead 4-2 and seemingly put the game away.
The visitors pulled their goalie again in another attempt to rally, however, and with just under a minute left Jake Bean threaded a point shot in to pull them back within one. With their goalie on the bench once again the Checkers completed their unlikely path back thanks to a snipe through traffic from Andrew Poturalski with 32 ticks left on the clock, sending the contest to overtime.
Over halfway through a back-and-forth extra frame, Trevor Carrick joined the rush and ripped a wrister past Michael Hutchinson to stun Springfield and send Charlotte home with two points.
Prior to the Checkers’ furious rally the contest had been a tight affair that featured Nick Schilkey driving the Charlotte offense with a pair of goals, his third and fourth over the last four games.
Scott Darling started the night between the pipes for the Checkers but it was Jeremy Helvig who earned the win as he replaced the veteran at the start of the third period to make his AHL debut and stop seven of the eight shots he saw.
