Game Preview: Checkers at Belleville (Nov. 3, 2017)

The Checkers are kicking off a grueling, near month-long road trip Friday with their first-ever matchup against one of the AHL’s newest franchises, the Belleville Senators. Here are nine things to know heading into tonight’s tilt.

1. ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Tonight kicks off the Checkers’ longest road trip of the season, a three-week trek that will see the team log eight games against five different opponents.

It may be early but Charlotte has excelled away from home so far this season, going 4-1-0-0 to start the year. Those four wins are tied for the most of any team in the AHL and are the most by any Atlantic Division club. The Checkers have been most dangerous offensively in those road games, recording at least five goals in four of the five contests and averaging over four goals per game despite being shutout once.

This marks Charlotte’s best road start to a season since the 2013-14 campaign, when the team took nine of a possible 10 points with a 4-0-0-1 record. That Checkers team lost its sixth game, meaning a win against Belleville on Friday would give the current Checkers the best road start in franchise history. “Make sure we get our proper rest,” said head coach Mike Vellucci of the key to picking up wins during this long road trip. “But when the game’s on let’s play, let’s compete.”

2. BEATEN UP BLUE LINE

The Checkers will be without one of their top defensemen this weekend in Jake Chelios and will likely be down another with Brenden Kichton’s day-to-day ailment. Those injuries combined with the NHL recall of Roland McKeown earlier this week leaves the Checkers with some holes on the blue line heading into Belleville, but they have compiled pieces to fill them.

The Checkers are currently carrying six healthy defensemen on their roster, meaning that Tyler Ganly should re-enter the lineup after serving as a healthy extra for nine of the 10 games this season. He’ll occupy a hole in the lineup, as will Josiah Didier, an offseason signee who was recalled from the ECHL’s Florida Everblades yesterday.

“They’re going to have to play a good, smart game,” said Vellucci of his defensive corps. “They’re going to have to keep their shifts short and the easiest way to do that is to get the puck out of your end right away and have some clean execution out of your own end.”

Those losses will lead to some shuffling from the coaching staff, but that’s not uncommon at this level.

“We’ve got to change our power play up, we’re going to have to change a lot of things up,” said Vellucci. “But this is the American Hockey League, there’s players changing left and right all the time.”

3. SLOW OUT THE GATE

The Checkers offense has been lethal for much of the start of the season, but they have taken some time to get rolling. Of the 35 goals that the team has scored this season – the third-highest total of any team in the AHL – only six have come in first period. That number is the third-lowest among any team’s first-period total and the fourth-lowest for any period in the AHL. First periods are also the only frame in which the Checkers are being outscored, surrendering nine tallies.

“We’ve got to compete and have better starts,” said Vellucci. “We haven’t had a good start yet. Recently with these Thursday practices we’ve been strictly special teams but today we put in a little more compete and hopefully that will help.”

By comparison the Checkers have scored a staggering 15 goals in third periods alone, the highest single-period total in the league through the first month.

4. KUOKKANEN HOPS ON BOARD

The Checkers lost a piece up front to an NHL recall as well with captain Patrick Brown heading to Raleigh, but they also received a dynamic player from the Hurricanes in Janne Kuokkanen.

The 19-year-old rookie impressed enough during training camp to earn a spot on Carolina’s opening night roster and held his own in four NHL games this season, but found himself as a healthy scratch more often than note, leading to his assignment to Charlotte.

“They told me that it’s good for me to get some ice time and get some scoring,” said Kuokkanen. “It’s not good for young players to sit for lots of games in a row.”

Kuokkanen will look to jump right into the action for Charlotte – a team that he debuted with during last year’s Calder Cup playoffs – and could provide a strong spark for the already dangerous Checkers offense.

“He’s going to fit in good,” said assistant coach Peter Andersson. “He’s a good hockey player so you could fit him into whatever kind of team you have. A good player is always a good fit.”

5. NED STAYS PERFECT

Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic continued his perfect record to start the season, improving to 5-0-0 with 25 saves Saturday night to beat the Utica Comets. By comparison, the second-year pro earned eight victories in 25 outings last season, not earning his fifth victory until Jan. 14.

6. TOP TRIO

The Checkers offense has been fairly evenly spread across their slate of players, but the trio of Lucas Wallmark, Valentin Zykov and Andrew Miller have established themselves atop the scoring leaders.

A year after leading the Checkers in goals as a rookie, Wallmark has been hot right off the bat and is tied for fourth in the AHL in scoring with 12 points in nine games. The Swede has gotten the bulk of that total as a playmaker – his nine helpers are tied for the third-most in the league this season – and has three points in his last three games.

Zykov has quietly enjoyed a strong offensive start, bursting out with nine points in nine games, including a team-best five goals. The Russian forward’s last road contest saw him rack up a career-high four points, giving him five over his last three games.

Finally there’s Miller, who has three points in his last three games and sits in a tie with Zykov for second on the team with nine points in as many games this season.

7. WELCOME TO THE AHL

Tonight marks the first meeting ever between the Checkers and the Belleville Senators, who are in their first season as an AHL franchise. The Checkers have three new teams on their schedule this season – the Senators, the Binghamton Devils and the Laval Rocket – with Belleville the first of those squads to face Charlotte.

8. SCOUTING THE SENS

The Senators have started their inaugural campaign off with a 5-4-0-1 record through the first 10 contests. The majority of that has been comprised of road games, as Belleville didn’t open at home until this past Wednesday. They come into this weekend series ranked in the middle of the pack for both goals for and against per game – 19th and 20th, respectively. The Senators’ offense started out of the gate slow, totaling just four goals through their first three games, but have rebounded and now enter Friday having scored at least four goals in five of their last seven.

Belleville’s attack has been led thus far by former Checker Ethan Werek, who has seven points in as many games this season, and Gabriel Gagne, whose four goals tie him for the team lead with Werek. The Senators also boast an intriguing pair of rookies in Filip Chlapik, who ranks second on the team with six points in nine games, and blue liner Thomas Chabot, who was picked 18th overall in the 2015 draft by Ottawa.

9. GET THE APP

The Checkers app got a fresh new set of paint during the offseason but functions just the same. Follow along with scoring updates as well as play the Top Line interactive game in order to win exclusive prizes.

You will also be able to listen to the radio broadcast via the app or this link. Jason Shaya’s pregame show starts 15 minutes prior to puck drop, tune in and tweet Jason to let him know you’re listening.