Game Preview: Checkers at Chicago (April 15, 2017)

The Checkers’ playoff fate comes down to the final day of the regular season in Chicago tonight.

Here are six key things to know about tonight’s match-up, including what the Checkers need to do to make the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

1. DO OR DIE

A number of different possibilities were in play last night, including the potential for the Checkers to clinch a playoff spot or be eliminated, with the drama ultimately extending for one more day.

Charlotte’s point earned by way of an overtime loss in Grand Rapids, coupled with Cleveland’s regulation loss to Manitoba, means that the Checkers need just one point against Chicago today to make the playoffs. A regulation victory would be the easiest way to do it, but simply getting to overtime would be enough. Should the Checkers lose in regulation, they will be eliminated and Cleveland will make the playoffs.

2. PLAYOFF PREVIEW?

Perhaps complicating things for the Checkers is that Chicago, which has long since locked up a playoff spot, will still have something to play for tonight. The Wolves are battling with Grand Rapids for the Central Division title, a race the Checkers are heavily influencing given the recent schedule. Chicago currently has a one-point lead over the Griffins, who play Milwaukee tonight at 7 p.m., with the Griffins holding the tiebreaker.

There are scenarios in which both teams could get what they want – the Wolves win the division and the Checkers clinch a playoff spot – something that would cause these two teams to meet in the first round of the playoffs next week. One of those is if the Wolves were to win tonight's game in overtime.

3. LEAVING IT LATE

This marks the second consecutive season, third time in four seasons and fourth time in seven AHL seasons that the Checkers have been on the playoff bubble heading into the regular season’s final weekend. Every time the team has found itself in this position, it has gone on to miss the playoffs.

The only seasons in which the Checkers experienced a different outcome were in 2011 and 2013, when the team made the playoffs as the conference’s No. 5 and No. 4 seed, respectively, and in 2015, when the team finished 13th in the Western Conference.

4. FINISHING STRONG

The Checkers enter tonight’s game on a six-game point streak (4-0-2) that ties their second-longest of the season. It is also the second-longest active streak in the AHL behind Stockton’s 10-game run.

Charlotte, which held the bottom spot in the Central Division as the No. 8 seed on Jan. 9, has given itself a chance to finish in the top four by going 26-9-5 since Jan. 10 and 13-2-3 since March 9.

5. AGAINST THE WOLVES

At 2-5-0 thus far, Chicago is one of just three teams (Bakersfield, Milwaukee) that the Checkers will post a losing record against this season. The Wolves took the two most recent meetings on April 2 and March 26, with the Checkers most recently earning a point by way of a 3-2 shootout victory at Bojangles’ Coliseum on March 25. The last time the Checkers earned a point in Chicago was on 7-3 victory on March 26 of last season.

6. ROAD WARRIORS

Tonight marks the sixth consecutive season that the Checkers will finish their regular season on the road. Though the team is just 12-19-6 on the road this season, a record that would give them the worst road points percentage of any playoff team, is has earned points in nine of its last 10 games away from home (5-1-4).