The Charlotte Checkers are back in familiar confines as they hosted the Cleveland Monsters on Monday night. It was the first meeting between the two teams for the 2023-24 season. Charlotte was back after their four-game road trip in California. Monday night’s game was the first of their four games in six days to end November. The Checkers were looking to go for their fifth-straight win at home. However, the Monsters had other plans.
Monsters Say, “Not So Fast Charlotte“
As mentioned, the Checkers were coming into the Nov. 20 game versus the Monsters looking to extend their home winning streak. Cleveland had other plans as they made it a tough night for Charlotte. Right away, it seemed like the Checkers were the dominant team at the opening draw. In the first period, Charlotte outshot Cleveland 10-7 with many chances for the white and red. However, the Monsters struck first as Brendan Gaunce scored his fifth goal of the season to make it 1-0. It came at the 9:32 mark of the period.
Credit where credit is due: the puck snuck through Checkers netminder Ludovic Waeber on a great shot. There was not much else for the Swiss netminder to do as the puck just slipped between his arm and the body. Eric Robinson and Jake Christiansen were credited with assists on the opening goal. Despite the goal from Gaunce, the Checkers had a solid first period overall.
First AHL Goal Alert
The Checkers were down 1-0 going into the first period after the Gaunce goal. However, Charlotte changed that late in the second period with a brilliant goal from Mackie Samoskevich. What makes the goal even more special is that it was his first AHL goal of his career. The 21-year-old Newtown, CT native played only two games for Charlotte last season. After finishing his final season at the University of Michigan, he joined the team, scoring 20 goals and tallying 43 assists.
In his 11th game of the 2023-24 season with the Checkers, he will add “AHL Scorer” to his resume.
The transition by Charlotte was great as Samoskevich, with some speed, broke into the Cleveland zone. He saw that there was no lane and circled back to pass the puck to Lucas Carlsson. Carlsson read the play well and completed the give-and-go to Samoskevich, who was wide-open in the left faceoff circle. Samoskevich wasted no time and absolutely snipped the puck past Monsters’ netminder Pavel Cajan to tie the game. It was a beautiful goal for his first-ever pro goal, and there was a game late in the second period.
Carlsson got the credit for the primary assist, his sixth of the season, along with Santtu Kinnunen’s 10th. Charlotte outshot Cleveland in the second period 17-6.
It’s More Like Power Kill Than Power Play
Overall, it was not a great night for their team’s power plays in this one. Charlotte and Cleveland both had five opportunities on the man-advantage. Cleveland came into the game with the AHL’s best power-play unit.
Although, somehow, each team got a two-man advantage at different points of the game. Despite the chances, no one could take advantage of the 5v3 chances. The Checkers and Monsters both ended up 0-for-5 on the power play on the night—huge credit to the penalty-kill team units for doing their jobs.
The third period saw a swing in shot totals as the Monsters had six to the Checkers four. Furthermore, the Monsters were able to capitalize on odd-man chances as they scored at the 13:04 mark of the period to go up 2-1. Kent Johnson of the Monsters got a breakaway into the Checkers zone.
Seeing how he had a better chance to pass off the puck, he made a brilliant drop pass to Emil Bemstrom. Bemstrom took advantage of Waeber overcommitting to Johnson. He controlled the puck and tucked the puck into a wide-open net to reclaim the lead.
Charlotte had a few chances, but alas, it was not enough as Bemstrom added his second goal of the game. This one came as a result of an empty net goal to secure the 3-1 win for Cleveland. Overall, the Checkers outshot the Monsters 31-19 in the game, but the result that mattered most was a Monsters victory.
Can Charlotte Split the Set?
There has to be credit given to Cajan in this game; he definitely deserved the first star. He stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced versus the Checkers. The 21-year-old Czechia netminder stood tall all game and secured his team the win. The first meeting of the season goes to the hands of Cleveland. There are three more games between the two teams this season. Game number two of the set is set for Wednesday night.
Wednesday night’s game is $1 Beer Night at Bojangles Coliseum for a 7 p.m. eastern puck drop. It is also Winning Wednesday, so if Charlotte wins that game, fans who attended will get free tickets to a future game.
After 14 games, Charlotte has a record of 9-5-0-0 with 18 points. They’re tied with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who also have 18 points after 15 games. Cleveland has a record of 9-4-0-1 with 19 points after 14 games played. They sit atop the North Division, one point above Syracuse, Toronto, and Rochester.
