Lots of shots, few goals
During their seasonopening two- game set with the Charlotte Checkers, the Wolves had 72 shots on goal and dominated possession of the puck. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to turn that control into a lot of goals, scoring just three times.
Their inability to finish cost them a point Sunday, when they lost to the Checkers 2- 1 in overtime at Allstate Arena, despite outshooting them 43- 16. Ben Holmstrom scored 1: 32 into overtime.
Defenseman Petteri Lindbohm’s second- period score was the only time the Wolves beat Checkers goalie Drew MacIntyre, who made 42 saves, including 18 in the third, when his team put only three on Jordan Binnington ( 14 saves).
“I’m sure it would concern just about everybody, but I look at it like throughout the game we’re sticking to what we want to do,” said coach John Anderson, who bemoaned how the Wolves didn’t track back on the game- winner.
“Nobody’s going to play a perfect game, but it’s just one of those things. If we play that way throughout the year, we’re going to win a lot more than we lose.”
Finishing aside, Anderson liked a lot of what the Wolves did during their first two games. They held the Checkers to 31 shots on goal and killed seven of eight penalties. They used their speed to dictate play and spent most of the time in their offensive zone.
But the Checkers’ goalies — John Muse on Saturday and MacIntyre on Sunday — kept the Wolves from running away with both games. Another culprit was a power play that is 0- for- 10 and squandered 42 seconds of a two- man advantage during the second period, picking up where it left off after finishing last in the AHL last season.
“We can diagnose it until next week,” Anderson said. “The reality is we played good both games.”
Lindbohm’s goal at 6: 53 of the second gave the Wolves the lead, but Alex Aleardi’s powerplay goal tied it with 4: 44 left in that period after Cody Beach was handed a game misconduct for charging.
“We’ve got to play a full 60 minutes. Maybe that’s part of the key for tonight,” defenseman David Shields said. “We didn’t play a full 60, so it kind of killed us in the end there.”