Werek saves Checkers in OT after Moose tie it up

The Charlotte Checkers nearly let the Manitoba Moose steal a victory, but Ethan Werek’s hot hand earned the Checkers a 3-2 overtime win.

The Checkers came out of the gates firing, dominating most of the first period and ripping three shots clean off the post, but couldn’t find a way to put the puck in the back of the net and the two squads entered the second scoreless.

It was Charlotte’s third line of Brendan Woods, Brody Sutter and Patrick Brown that kickstarted things for the home team in the second, with Sutter and Woods each putting one pasts Moose goalie Eric Comrie to give the Checkers a two-goal lead.

The Moose wouldn’t roll over. John Albert put the visitors on the board late in the second, and then it was Austen Brassard who tied the game with under six minutes left.

Charlotte had several close chances that they couldn’t quite finish until midway through the frame when T.J. Hensick drove his way to the slot and fed a pass to Werek at the bottom of the right circle.

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 9:56 PM with the headline "Werek saves Checkers in OT after Moose tie it up."