Game Preview: Checkers at Iowa (March 26, 2014)

The Checkers enter the final 10 games of their regular season looking to sweep a back-to-back set against the Wild tonight.

A 2-1 victory in the Checkers' first-ever visit to Iowa on Tuesday brought them to within one point of eighth-place Rochester, which has lost seven straight but has played one fewer game. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Barons also won Tuesday, keeping them even with the Checkers in terms of games played and points earned.

Charlotte could feasibly enter the top eight tonight, depending on their game and Rochester's tilt against Milwaukee. After that, they return home to begin what will be a grueling, week-long battle with Oklahoma City, who they play four times in their next five games starting Saturday and Sunday at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Charlotte

The Checkers' top scorers have led them through much of the second-half success that has them knocking on the door of postseason positioning. Tuesday's game against the Wild was no different.

Zach Boychuk and Chris Terry provided all the offense the Checkers would need in the 2-1 victory, solidifying their place among the elite goal scorers in the AHL. Boychuk’s 29th, the fourth-most in the AHL, tied him with Jacob Mikflikier for the second-highest single-season total in Checkers history (Terry holds the record with 34 in 2010-11). Terry’s 27th, the seventh in his eight-game point streak, ties him for fifth in the league.

Those two helped make up for the absence of Aaron Palushaj, who missed his first Checkers game of the season due to an injury thought to be of the day-to-day variety. The fourth member of the Checkers’ big four in terms of offensive production up front, Brett Sutter, had an assist to give him 26 points in his last 27 games.

Boychuk and Terry continue to be one of the league’s most dangerous tandems on the power play, where the Checkers went 2-for-5 on Tuesday to improve to 22.3 percent on the year (2nd AHL) and to 6-for-17 (35.3 percent) in their last three games. Boychuk is now tied for first in the league with 15 power-play goals and Terry tied for third with 14. Both have broken the previous franchise record set by Mikflikier in 2010-11.

On the defensive end, John Muse, coming off an injury that prevented him from dressing in the Checkers’ previous game on Sunday, a 4-2 loss to the San Antonio Rampage, made 24 saves to set a new club record for most wins in a single season (23) and improve to 18-5-0 since Jan. 11. Tuesday's win improved the Checkers to 3-21-2 when scoring two or fewer goals this season.

It remains to be seen if the Checkers will stick with Muse tonight or turn to Mike Murphy, who has played well of late but has no victories to show for it. Another potential lineup changes involve defenseman Ryan Murphy, who was not available for Tuesday’s game after the Hurricanes reassigned him to Charlotte that morning. Murphy has assists and points in each of his last 11 AHL games.

Iowa

Tuesday’s loss extended the Wild’s losing streak to four games, keeping them at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. With 12 games left on their schedule, they face a 10-point gap between themselves and the current cutoff line, one that the Checkers hope to finally cross tonight.

A team that has struggled to score goals this season (it ranks 30th in the league with an average of 2.31 per game), the Wild could only muster one against Muse – a one-timer from the slot in the second period that the Checkers felt should have been prevented by an icing call. Kris Foucault did the honors to give him four points (3g, 1a) in his last three games, a total that stands out given that the Wild have found the back of the net just eight times in their last five outings.

The Wild, who conclude a six-game home stand tonight, are expected to again be without the services of three of their top five scorers in veteran defenseman Brian Connelly, another productive blueliner in Jonathon Blum and rookie Erik Haula. Experienced forward Brad Winchester leads the team with 33 points in 66 games, though all but three of those came in 55 games with Rockford prior to a trade that sent Connelly to the IceHogs on Feb. 26. Blum and Haula are on NHL recall with Minnesota.

Goalie Johan Gustafsson, who made 33 saves to defeat the Checkers in the teams’ first-ever meeting, the Checkers’ home opener on Oct. 19, took the loss despite 27 saves on Tuesday. He has started six of the last seven games, with 30-year-old veteran John Curry stopping 28 of 31 in his last appearance – a Saturday loss against Grand Rapids.

Though he has played roughly half as many AHL games as Gustafsson this season, Curry has the superior statistics at 7-8-2 with a 2.35 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and one shutout, helping him earn an NHL deal with Minnesota in February. Gustafsson, a 22-year-old, sixth-round draft pick playing his first season in North America, is 11-16-2 with a 2.95 GAA and .907 SV%.

Checkers Notes

Playoff Picture

A win over San Antonio on March 21 allowed the Checkers to climb to ninth place, their highest position since Nov. 7. They are currently level with Oklahoma City with 69 points with an even number of games played. The Checkers hold the tiebreaker with two more regulation/overtime wins than the Barons.

A win in tonight's game at Iowa, coupled with a Rochester loss against Milwaukee, would pull the Checkers into the top eight for the first time since Nov. 2. They would be tied on points with seventh-place Rockford, which is idle Wednesday, though Rockford would hold the tiebreaker with two fewer games played.

Of the Checkers' 10 remaining games, five will be played against teams in direct competition for a playoff spot (one against Rockford and four against Oklahoma City). Two more will be played against teams below them in the Western Conference standings (one against 14-seed San Antonio and one against 15-seed Iowa).

Terry Takes Off

Chris Terry has points in eight straight games (7g, 4a) marking his longest streak since opening the season with a career-high run of nine games. His current streak is the fourth of eight or more games in his five AHL seasons. His five-game goal streak that ended March 23 was the longest of his career and the longest by a Checker since Drayson Bowman set the franchise record with eight from Oct. 19-Nov. 4 of last season.

During his streak, Terry has taken over the team's scoring lead with 62 points (5th AHL), three away from the club's season season record set by Zach Boychuk in 2010-11. His 27 goals rank second on the team behind Boychuk (29) and are tied for the fifth-most in the league.

Murphy's Streak

Since joining the Checkers from the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time this season on Jan. 24, Ryan Murphy has 18 points (1g, 17a), including his first career AHL goal on March 2, in 16 games. He is currently tied for second among Charlotte defensemen in assists and has already set a new club record for most by a Checkers rookie blueliner in a single campaign (Michal Jordan had 14 in 2010-11).

Murphy has assists in each of his last 11 games (13a), setting a new franchise record for longest assist streak that previously stood at six (Zach Boychuk in 2010) and marking the longest posted by any AHL player since Hershey's Keith Aucoin (14) in the 2011-12 season. The last time an AHL defenseman recorded assists in 11 or more consecutive games was in 2008-09, when Binghamton rookie Mattias Karlsson put together a 12-game run.

Murphy's 11-game point streak (1g, 13a) is the second-longest active streak in the AHL and is the longest posted by an AHL defenseman all season. It ties the longest in Checkers history, a mark orginally set by fellow defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti from Jan. 12-Feb. 12, 2012.

Murphy, the Hurricanes' first-round pick (12th overall) in 2011, now has 22 points in 24 career AHL games dating back to last season, including five Calder Cup Playoff games. Twelve of those points came on the power play.

All He Does Is Win

Checkers goalie John Muse has won 20 of his last 27 decisions dating back to Nov. 23. His most recent victory on March 25, his 23rd of the season, set a new club record for most in a single season. The old mark of 22 was initially set by Justin Pogge in the inaugural 2010-11 campaign and tied by Justin Peters last season. Muse ranks tied for fourth in the AHL in victories despite ranking tied for 17th with 37 games played.

A winner of two NCAA National Championships with Boston College and an ECHL Kelly Cup with the Florida Everblades, Muse, who rejoined the Checkers on a PTO in November before upgrading to an AHL deal, has an all-time AHL record of 41-22-3. He ranks second in the Checkers' AHL history with 40 wins, four more than Peters and three fewer than teammate Mike Murphy.

Murphy's Law

Mike Murphy lost for the seventh time in his last eight decisions by way of a 4-2 defeat against San Antonio on March 23. Murphy has received five total goals of support in his last four starts, all losses, while partner John Muse has gone 7-1-0 while receiving three or more goals of support in seven of his last eight starts.

The Big Three

Along with Texas (four), the Checkers are one of two teams to feature three or more players among the AHL's top 20 scorers and the only team to feature three in the top 10. Chris Terry leads the Checkers and ranks fifth in the AHL with 62 points, Zach Boychuk is seventh with 61 points and Aaron Palushaj ranks tied for 10th with 57.

All three players have held sole possesion of the Checkers' scoring lead at one point this season and are on pace for their best scoring seasons at the AHL level. At their current pace, all three players would break or tie Boychuk's team record of 65 points set in 2010-11, with Terry on pace for 72, Boychuk on pace for 69 and Palushaj headed for 65.

Sutter Moving Up

While scoring 26 points (10g, 16a) in his last 27 games dating back to Jan. 23, Checkers captain Brett Sutter passed Zac Dalpe for the third-most points in the Checkers' AHL history (138 in 245 games). Only Chris Terry (245) and Zach Boychuk (211) have more.

Sutter, who played his 500th professional game on March 2, has averaged 0.72 points per game in his last two seasons with the Checkers compared to 0.33 points per game in his first five AHL campaigns with Quad City, Abbotsford and Charlotte. Despite missing 14 games while on NHL duty with Carolina this season, he ranks fourth on the Checkers in scoring with 40 points (12g, 28a) in 52 games.

Sutter scored points in six consecutive games (4g, 5a) ending March 23, tying the longest streak of his career. He scored eight points (5g, 3a) over a six-game stretch last season.

Power Players

Both Zach Boychuk (t-1st AHL with 15) and Chris Terry (t-3rd AHL with 14) have broken the franchise record for most power play goals in a single season previously held by Jacob Micflikier (12 goals in 2010-11). Meanwhile, Mark Flood's seven power-play goals are tied for third among AHL defensemen and tied for the most by a Checkers blueliner in a single season (Bobby Sanguinetti in 2011-12).

The 29 total goals by Boychuk and Terry are the most of any two teammates in the league, narrowly edging the 27 goals scored by Texas' Chris Mueller (14) and Colton Sceviour (13). Boychuk, Flood and Terry are responsible for 36 of the Checkers' 65 power-play goals (55.3 percent) with no other player on the team scoring more than five.

The Checkers currently rank second in the AHL with a 22.3 percent success rate on the power play, a mark that, if sustained for the final 10 games of the season, would mark the highest of their four AHL campaigns. The team has never converted at a rate lower than 19.8 percent over the course an entire season.

Special Teams Surge

The Checkers' power play, which has ranked near the top of the league all season, has gone 6-for-17 in its last three games (35.3 percent) to improve to 22.3 percent overall (2nd AHL).

Meanwhile, the penalty kill has gone 27-for-28 over its last seven games since March 12.

Quick Hits

• The 2-1 win over Iowa on March 25 improved the Checkers to 3-21-2 when scoring two or fewer goals this season. John Muse was in goal for all three wins, including a 2-1 victories over San Antonio on Dec. 10 and over Oklahoma City on Jan. 11.
• The Checkers' 21 shots on goal in the second period of their game against San Antonio on March 21 were their most in a single period since Jan. 19 (23). Meanwhile, their three shots on goal in the second period of their game in Iowa on March 25 tied their second-lowest total of the season.
• Aaron Palushaj's 22 goals, 35 assists and 57 points tie career highs set with Hamilton in the 2010-11 season, when he posted identical totals in three more games played. His 20th goal of the season on March 9 was also his sixth game winner, putting him into a six-way tie for most in the AHL.
• Zach Boychuk's 29 goals are the fourth-most in the AHL and are tied for the second-highest total in the Checkers' AHL history (Jacob Mikflikier had 29 and Chris Terry had 34 in 2010-11).
• Mark Flood ranks tied for second among AHL defensemen with 12 goals. That sets a career high and is the most ever by a Charlotte defenseman in a single season.
• The Checkers' eight overtime games (5-3) and four shootouts (2-2) are the fewest in the league.
• The Checkers' three shorthanded goals are the fewest in the AHL. They have never scored fewer than six in a single season.

Player Streaks

• Ryan Murphy has assists and points in each of his last 11 games (Feb. 7-March 4: 1g, 13a)
• Chris Terry has points in each of his last eight games (March 9-25: 7g, 4a)
• Michal Jordan has points in each of his last four games (March 19-25: 1g, 4a)

Milestones

• Zach Boychuk is two shy of 250 AHL points
• Nicolas Blanchard is five shy of 800 AHL penalty minutes
• Philippe Cornet played his 250th professional game on March 25

Injuries

• Aaron Palushaj - missed one game starting March 25
• Greg Nemisz - missed 10 games starting March 8
• Brendan Woods - missed 16 games starting Feb. 22

Transactions

Incoming

• March 26 - (LW) Phil Di Giuseppe (University of Michigan) signed with Carolina (NHL) and assigned to Charlotte
• March 25 - (D) Ryan Murphy reassigned from Carolina (NHL) to Charlotte
• March 23 - (RW) Matthew Pistilli signed to PTO from Florida (ECHL)
• March 20 - (D) Dennis Robertson (Brown University) signed with Carolina (NHL) and assigned to Charlotte
• March 19 - (LW) Chris Terry reassigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)

Outgoing

• March 23 - (G) Trevor Cann released from PTO and returned to Florida (ECHL)