Game Preview: Checkers at Chicago (Dec. 29, 2013)

The Checkers look to make it two wins in a row to start their road trip and two wins in as many visits to Chicago as they face the Wolves this evening.

Charlotte, which started off its post-holiday schedule with a 3-2 win in Milwaukee on Friday to end a four-game road losing streak and earn its first road victory since Oct. 31, has played Chicago three times this season. The road team has won each game, with Charlotte posting a 5-0 victory on Oct. 27 before the Wolves returned the favor with a pair of 2-1 wins on Nov. 7 and 9.

After tonight’s game, the Checkers visit Rockford on Monday night before returning home for a two-game set against the Texas Stars this Thursday and Friday.

Charlotte

There’s a very good chance that the Checkers will tonight extend a franchise record by using their eighth different goaltender this season, with Anton Khudobin joining up on a conditioning stint from the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

Khudobin, a 27-year-old veteran of 156 career AHL games with Houston and Providence, has not played since suffering an ankle injury during Carolina’s game against Phoenix on Oct. 13. That injury caused the Hurricanes to recall Justin Peters, who has been earning the majority of the starts ahead of a healthy Cam Ward of late, thus beginning a hectic stream of shakeups in Charlotte that have subsided since John Muse and Mike Murphy formed a consistent tandem over the last month.

Given the outstanding play of Peters, Khudobin, who the Hurricanes declared healthy enough to play two weeks ago, had not been able to crack Carolina’s lineup and will need to demonstrate his readiness with good Checkers performances. It’s a virtual guarantee that he’ll play either tonight or Monday and entirely possible that he’ll play both games.

In three appearances with Carolina prior to his injury, Khudobin, who the team signed from the Boston Bruins over the summer, was 2-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .929 save percentage. For his AHL career (he played 44 games for Providence just two seasons ago), Khudobin is 68-62-9 with a 2.53 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and nine shutouts. He is a former AHL All-Star, having represented PlanetUSA during the 2009-10 season.

Should he play and record a victory tonight, Khudobin would be the first Checkers goalie other than Muse to do so since Oct. 5. Muse is 11-7-0 this season while the other six goalies the team has used are a combined 2-9-1. Muse has won seven of his last eight games, making him a good option if the Checkers decide to delay Khudobin's debut by another day.

The Checkers are not expected to have any other lineup changes from Friday, with Matthew Pistilli, signed from ECHL Florida on Friday, still available to take the spot of scoring leader Zach Boychuk, who is in the NHL. Forwards Sean Dolan and Jared Staal and defensemen Danny Biega and Rasmus Rissanen are likely to remain sidelined due to injury.

Chicago

For the second consecutive game, the Checkers, off Saturday, will have a rest advantage over their opponents who played the night before. In this case, the Wolves will be wrapping up a three-in-three, having played two previous games in Lake Erie.

Chicago, a team the Checkers are chasing in the Western Conference playoff race, even went to overtime on Saturday to earn a point for the fifth consecutive game (4-0-1) is a wild 5-4 overtime loss. In the second period, Lake Erie led 3-1 midway through only to see Chicago score three times in the last five minutes to take its first lead. The Monsters then tied the game with 1:45 remaining in regulation before netting the OT winner.

Keith Aucoin, a former Carolina Hurricane who recently moved into eighth on the AHL’s all-time scoring list and now has 826 career points, led the way with two goals on Saturday, giving him 12 points in 21 games this season. Michael Davies and Christian Hanson each had two assists, while goalie Matt Climie stopped 26 of 31 shots.

With Climie playing Saturday, it’s likely that the Checkers will see No. 1 option Jake Allen tonight. Allen has played 22 of the Wolves’ 31 games this season and ranks third in the AHL with a 2.13 goals-against average. The St. Louis Blues prospect is coming off a 19-save shutout in Chicago’s 4-0 victory on Friday.

Chicago’s power play, which features former league MVPs Aucoin and Corey Locke as well as former All-Stars Alexandre Bolduc and Mark Mancari, is surprisingly ranked last in the league at just 10.7 percent. However, their penalty killing picks up some special-teams slack with a conversion rate of 85.7 percent, good for sixth place.

Bolduc will not play tonight as he is currently representing Canada at the Spengler Cup in Switzerland. The Wolves also lost forwards Sergey Andronov, who scored a hat trick on Friday, Chris Porter and Dmitrij Jaskin on NHL recalls to St. Louis.

Checkers Notes

Power Players

The Checkers, who rank third in the AHL with a 23.2 percent success rate on the power play, saw a franchise-record streak of scoring at least one power-play goal in 10 consecutive games come to an end on Friday. They went 0-for-4 in that game against Milwaukee, their first of the season without AHL power-play goals leader Zach Boychuk.

Charlotte has scored 41.3 percent of its goals on the power play this season (33 of 80), which is the highest percentage of any AHL team. The Checkers are 2-6-0 when they do not score a power-play goal.

Penalty-Killing Prowess

Though the Checkers rank tied for 22nd in AHL penalty-killing at 81.1 percent, they have held opponents off the board in 11 of their last 14 games, including five straight, their longest streak of the season (15-for-15 since Dec. 15). Since Nov. 23, the Checkers are killing penalties at a rate of 89.1 percent (41-for-46), which would rank second in the league if applied to the full season.

Only three other teams have found themselves in fewer shorthanded situations than the Checkers' 122 (Portland, Providence and Utica). Charlotte is the AHL's sixth-best-disciplined team with an average of 14.1 penatly minutes per game.

On the Road

The Checkers, who recently completed a 10-game home stand, earned their first road victory since Oct. 31 with a 3-2 win in Milwaukee on Friday. That game, their first away from home since Nov. 27, ended a franchise-record, four-game losing streak on the road.

Prior to their recently-ended road losing streak, the Checkers began the season with a record of 5-1-1 away from home. Their 12 road games played this season are tied with Hershey and Utica for second-fewest in the league behind Iowa's 10.

Divided Division

In 30 games, the Checkers have played against their own division, the West, just five times (4-1-0), marking the fewest games that any AHL team has played within its own division. They will not play another divisional game until facing Texas on Jan. 2, which marks the start of a run in which they will play eight of nine games against divisional opponents. The West Division is the only division that the Checkers have a winning record against, though they could get to .500 against the Midwest with a victory over Chicago tonight (currently 7-8-1).

Quick Hits

• Seven of the Checkers' last 10 games have been decided by one goal. They are 6-1-0 in those games.
  
• Charlotte's three overtime games are the fewest in the league, as is its lone shootout appearance.
• Charlotte is one of three teams that have yet to score a shorthanded goal.
• Despite not scoring a goal since Dec. 7 (seven games) Mark Flood is tied for second among all AHL defensemen with eight goals and five power-play goals.
• Matt Corrente ranks tied for fourth among all AHL defensemen with five major penalties.
• Charlotte has both scored (30) and allowed (35) more goals in the third period than in any other period.

Player Streaks

• Brett Sutter has assists and points in each of his last two games (Dec. 21-27: 1g, 2a)
• Aaron Palushaj has assists and points in each of his last two games (Dec. 21-27: 0g, 3a)

Milestones

• none

Injuries

• Sean Dolan - missed 10 games starting Dec. 1
• Jared Staal - missed nine games starting Dec. 5
• Rasmus Rissanen - missed seven games starting Dec. 10
• Danny Biega - missed five games starting Dec. 15

Transactions

Incoming

• Dec. 27 - (G) Anton Khudobin assigned on a conditioning stint from Carolina (NHL)
• Dec. 27 - (RW) Matthew Pistilli signed to professional tryout contract from Florida (ECHL)

Outgoing

• Dec. 27 - (LW) Zach Boychuk recalled to Carolina (NHL) from Charlotte