Checkers notch 4-3 road win over Moose

The Manitoba Moose (23-29-4-4) and Charlotte Checkers (27-27-4-0) got off to a quick start at MTS Centre on Thursday night. Brendan Lemieux put the hosts in front just 2:27 into the game, tipping a Kevin Czuczman point shot past Checkers’ netminder Daniel Altshuller. It didn’t take long for Charlotte to respond as Lucas Wallmark banged in an Andrew Miller rebound to even the contest at 4:48.  Just 49 seconds later, Connor Brickley tipped a Philip Samuelsson shot past Eric Comrie to put the Checkers in front.

“We scored the first goal, but I didn’t like the way we defended in front of our net," Moose head coach Pascal Vincent said. "That’s a team that’s going to the net with two or three guys, and we needed to control their sticks in front of our net and block some shots.  I thought our first period wasn’t very good in that category.”

The visitors extended their lead at 13:29 when Andrew Miller redirected Jake Chelios’ shot from the line to the back of the goal.  The Moose pulled the score to 3-2 before the end of the first when JC Lipon’s shot went in off Patrice Cormier’s skate to round out a high-scoring frame.

Charlotte restored the two goal lead with a shorthanded marker 7:10 into the second. Brendan Woods nabbed the puck in the Moose zone and opened up Danny Kristo who sniped, pushing the score to 4-2.

Manitoba got back within one with 2:44 left in the frame. Kevin Czuczman sent the puck to the front of the Charlotte net and it angled into the goal off a Checkers’ defender.  Charlotte carried a 4-3 lead into the intermission.

“We’ve all got to be better," Czucman said. "Every goal, some guy can do something different to prevent it.  At the end of the day it’s on all of us.  We’ve all got to lift our game and take care of tomorrow."

The Moose continued to push for the tying marker in the third period.  Manitoba outshot Charlotte 11-9 in the frame, but couldn’t find a way past Altshuller who finished the game with a personal season-high 35 saves.  Brandon Tanev nearly tied the game with five seconds left, sneaking a shot five-hole, but Altshuller closed it off just in time to keep the puck out and sent the Checkers to the 4-3 win.