Chicago Keeps Checkers Winless to Start Season

A night after giving up six goals in their opener, the Checkers’ offense struggled as the team fell 2-1 in Chicago, suffering consecutive regulation losses to start a season for the first time in team history.

Jared Staal scored the lone goal for the Checkers, whose 15 shots on goal against Wolves netminder Matt Climie marked the lowest total in their five AHL seasons. John Muse made 27 saves in the losing effort, while former Checkers center Jeremy Welsh tallied the winning goal late in the second period.

Charlotte’s previous record for its slowest start to a season came in 2011-12, when they went 0-1-1 in two road games against the Norfolk Admirals, that season’s eventual Calder Cup champion. Last season marked the best start in team history as they won their first two games for the first time.

Though the Checkers, aided by a late power play, applied significant pressure in the game’s final few minutes as they searched for an equalizer, they endured long stretches in which they were unable to test Climie, beginning with a first period that saw them go shotless for the first 15:36 of the game. Their single shot in a first period that saw the Wolves fire 10 tied the lowest total for any period in team history, a record set once previously on March 4, 2013.

The visitors’ lone breakthrough came midway through the second period when Brendan Woods collected the puck along the left wall to begin a two-on-one with Staal, who received a pass and rifled a shot past Climie to cancel out Colin Fraser’s opener five minutes earlier. Outside of a post hit by Chad LaRose in the first, it was one of few scoring chances the Checkers had been able to muster until that point.

Before the second period came to an end, Welsh, who scored 26 points in 69 games for Charlotte as a rookie during the 2012-13 campaign, collected a loose puck in traffic and fired a quick shot that went off the post and in to Muse’s left.

After undergoing some defensive struggles in their opener, Charlotte will find a bright spot in a penalty kill that went 6-for-6 on the night and is now 9-for-10 through the first two games of the season. The biggest test came late in the second period and early in the third when Woods took a delay of game penalty for putting the puck over the glass just 26 seconds after LaRose went to the box for slashing with 58 seconds left in the middle frame.

Charlotte will now attempt to avoid going pointless in a three-in-three set for just the second time in team history, the first of which took occurred in the thick of last season’s playoff race (April 5-7).

NOTES

No Checker recorded more than two shots on goal … The Checkers went 0-for-4 on the power play … Chicago was playing its first game of the season after sitting idle Friday night … Staal’s goal was his 11th in 171 AHL games … Ben Holmstrom picked up the secondary assist on Staal’s goal for his first point as a Checker … Chicago defenseman Chris Butler played his first AHL game since the 2008-09 season, while fellow blueliner Brent Sopel played his first since the 1999-00 campaign … Muse entered the game with a 1.44 goals-against average, .951 save percentage and two shutouts in four previous games in Chicago … Forward Alex Aleardi made his Checkers debut after sitting out Friday’s opener as a healthy extra … Forward Carter Sandlak and defenseman Dennis Robertson missed the game due to injury, while defenseman Austin Levi was a healthy extra.