Charlotte handled the special-teams battle and turned a fast start into a 6-3 win over the Colorado Eagles on Tuesday, handing Colorado its first-ever loss in the meeting between the clubs in Loveland.
Jack Devine led the way for Charlotte with two goals, including an empty-netter late, while Tyler Muszelik picked up his first career AHL win after stopping 22 of 25 shots. Colorado goalie Ilya Nabokov took the loss, allowing four goals on 23 shots.
The Eagles got the opening punch just 54 seconds in. Adam Beckman stationed himself near the crease and redirected a pass into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Colorado’s night changed quickly from there. Even after the Eagles grabbed the game’s first power play, a turnover opened the door for Will Bitten, who scored shorthanded from the low slot to tie it 1-1 with 6:32 left in the first period.
Charlotte kept leaning on its special teams. On a power play, Devine buried a wrister from the left-wing circle at 14:18 of the second period to put the Checkers ahead 2-1.
The Eagles answered on their own man advantage when Christian Wolanin worked his way between the circles and snapped home a wrist shot, drawing Colorado even at 2-2 with 3:28 left in the middle frame.
But Charlotte had one more response before the period ended. A turnover at center ice led to a 2-on-1 for Gracyn Sawchyn, whose first shot was denied by Nabokov before he buried the rebound with 15 seconds left in the second, sending the Checkers to the third with a 3-2 edge.
The Checkers wasted no time building on it. Just 1:55 into the final period, Robert Mastrosimone finished a cross-slot feed to make it 4-2.
Colorado pulled Nabokov for an extra attacker late, and Devine made the Eagles pay with an empty-net goal at 3:11 of the third. The Eagles briefly answered on the next faceoff, when Matt DiMarsico cut through the left-wing circle and scored on a wrister at the 16:59 mark to make it 5-3.
Colorado went back to the empty net again, and Charlotte closed it out for good when Nate Smith scored with 50 seconds left.
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He reinforced that progress in a recent overtime loss, scoring twice and adding another multi-goal night to a rsum that has changed the way hes viewed across the league. For a player who was once more about size and energy than offense, Greer has turned himself into a legitimate contributor, and that kind of breakout is the sort of development teams around the NHL always wish they had a second chance to see up close. [Read more 🡒]