Game Preview: Checkers at Grand Rapids (Jan. 7, 2015)

After snapping their worst winless skid of the season, the Checkers are looking to string together consecutive wins for the second time this season.

Fresh off their big win over the Texas Stars last Sunday, the Checkers are now beginning a tough trek through the Midwest Division, starting tonight with a contest against the Grand Rapids Griffins. This is the first time that the Checkers have seen the Griffins since they hosted them in the home opener in October.

Following tonight’s game, the Checkers will have an off day Thursday before back-to-back contests with the Griffins and the Milwaukee Admirals.

Charlotte

The Checkers struggled coming out of the holiday break, falling into a four-game winless streak that saw them drop even with Iowa for last in the West Division. The streak culminated with a 4-1 loss at home against the Texas Stars, a game in which the Checkers surrendered four unanswered goals in the third period. But the next night, against the same Stars team, the Checkers came out looking far better, as they have in the second half of back-to-backs all season. They turned in a performance that was impressive on all fronts, and the pucks finally began to go in for the starving offense, leading to a 5-2 win.

“That’s the makeup of that team and the mentality of that team,” said head coach Jeff Daniels after the game. “They’re workers. They want to grind it out. I knew we’d come out and work, it was just a matter of if we were going to score some goals.”

The victory pulled the Checkers back out of the cellar, but they will need to take that momentum on the road and turn it into points if they have any chance of climbing up the standings.

“It doesn’t get any easier any night for us,” said Daniels. “I know our record is not good on the road but we’ve played some of our best hockey on the road, we just haven’t been rewarded for it. We’ve just got to bring what we brought tonight to the road and hopefully we saved some goals for the road.”

“We’ve got to keep this up,” said rookie Patrick Brown. “We can’t just win one, lose one, lose another and then win one. We’ve got to keep winning. We’ve got to rack up some points and start making a climb in the standings.”

The Checkers have not fared well on the road this season, turning in the second-worst record away from home in the AHL, trailing only Rochester. The team’s season-long struggle to put pucks in the net has only been amplified on the road, where they have scored two goals or fewer in 11 of 16 contests.

With an ever-changing roster due to call ups and injuries, Daniels has been forced to shuffle his lineup a bit. One new line combination on Sunday of Ben Holmstrom centering Justin Shugg and Phil Di Giuseppe seemed to click and produced the game’s first two goals. The Checkers are hoping that group will be able to continue that during this road trip.

“You’ve got some skill on the one side with Shuggy, you’ve got a lot of speed with Phil on the other side and Homer is going to play a simple game and go to the net,” said Daniels. “By going to the net, maybe that will open some ice up for the other guys and [Sunday] it worked.”

While scoring goals continues to be the main point of emphasis for the Checkers, their defense and goaltending will need to step up in order to get wins against the Griffins, who boast the sixth-best goals per game average in the AHL. In his return from the Spengler Cup, Drew MacIntyre turned in a solid performance in holding a dangerous Texas attack to just two goals and earning the victory. MacIntyre will need to continue that momentum in order to keep the Griffins at bay. John Muse, who started four-straight games during MacIntyre’s absence despite not having any consecutive starts prior, may see action as well during the grueling four-game road trip.

Grand Rapids

Unlike the Checkers, the Griffins have come out of the holiday break hot, winning three of their last four contests, with the one loss coming via a shootout. Going back even further, they have earned points in eight of their last 10 games.

Grand Rapids' biggest strength is its offense, which ranks sixth in the AHL in goals per game. The Griffins have three skaters with over 24 points on the season, the second highest number of any team.

Their biggest weapon is second-year forward Teemu Pulkkinen. The 23-year-old has racked up 38 points (19g, 19a) in 32 games this season, tying him for second in the league in scoring and first in goals. Pulkkinen is also currently on a seven-game goal streak, the longest at any point this year in the AHL. During that seven-game stretch, he has put up 12 points and the Griffins have gone 5-1-1.

In addition to Pulkkinen, former Hobey Baker Award winner Andy Miele has found success of late, recording five points in his last five games, giving him 28 points in 29 games this season.

With number one goalie Petr Mrazek currently in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings, the Griffins have turned to Tom McCollum and Jared Coreau in net. The netminders have begun to split playing time more evenly as of late, with the rookie Coreau shining in his eight appearances, going 6-1-1 and turning in a 1.80 goals against average and .940 save percentage.

Checkers Notes

Against Grand Rapids

Tonight marks the third of eight meetings between the Checkers and Grand Rapids this season, with the Griffins winning each of the first two contests at Time Warner Cable Arena on Oct. 17 and 18. In 14 all-time contests between the two clubs, the Checkers hold an 8-6-0 record, including a 4-2-0 mark in Grand Rapids.

The Checkers scored just two goals, courtesy of Jared Staal and Brody Sutter, in the first two meetings this season. The Griffins' Teemu Pulkkinen, who is tied for the AHL lead with 19 goals on the season, led Grand Rapids with a pair of goals in Charlotte.

In goal, Charlotte's Drew MacIntyre played the entirety of both previous meetings, stopping 73 of 79 shots for a 3.02 goals-against average and .924 save percentage. For the Griffins, Petr Mrazek (18 saves, now with Detroit) and Tom McCollum (21 saves) each picked up a start and a victory.

Shugg Leading The Way

Checkers forward Justin Shugg extended his team lead with his 12th goal of the season against Texas on Jan. 4. In just 23 games this season, the fourth-year forward is now just four shy of his career high set in 75 games last season. He leads the team and continues to climb the AHL leaderboard, currently sitting tied for 14th in goals. He also ranks 10th in the AHL with a shooting percentage of 21.8. A career-best, three-point night (1g, 2a) on Jan. 4 put him into a three-way tie for the Checkers' scoring lead along with Chad LaRose and Ryan Murphy.

Shugg has goals in each of his last three games, putting him one shy of his career high and his own record for the team's longest goal streak of the season, both set from Nov. 14-21 (4g, 1a). His current streak ties him for the second-longest active streak in the AHL behind Griffins forward Teemu Pulkkinen (seven).

Shugg, the Carolina Hurricanes' fourth-round pick in 2010, averaged 40 goals in each of his last two junior seasons with Windsor and Mississauga of the OHL. He won back-to-back Memorial Cups in 2009 and 2010 and, after losing in the 2011 Memorial Cup final, captured an ECHL Kelly Cup with the Florida Everblades in 2012.

MacIntyre's Wins

Since becoming the 12th goaltender in the AHL's 78-year history to reach 200 wins on Dec. 13, Checkers goalie Drew MacIntyre has picked up two more victories to move into a tie with Jean-Francois Labbe for 11th on the league's all-time list. His next victory will tie him with Neil Little for 10th.

MacIntyre, a 31-year-old veteran now playing his 12th professional season with his eighth AHL club, is just 30 wins away from tying Frederic Cassivi for fifth on the all-time wins list. He has a 202-126-23 record, 2.44 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and 16 shutouts in 374 career AHL games dating back to the 2004-05 season.

Road Woes

The Checkers are 3-11-2 on the season, including losses in 11 of their last 12 games (1-9-2) dating back to Oct. 25. That stretch also includes an active three-game winless streak dating back to Dec. 27 (0-2-1) and a franchise-record, eight-game road winless streak (0-7-1) from Oct. 25-Dec. 12. The team's eight points earned on the road this season are the second-fewest in the league next to Rochester's five.

Charlotte has scored two goals or fewer of 11 of 16 road games this season yet have been within one goal heading into the third period in 10 of 16 games.

Power Outage

The Checkers are 0-for-23 on the power play over their last six games since Dec. 21. It marks their second-longest drought in terms of consecutive opportunities (0-for-25 from Nov. 29-Dec. 12) and is the longest of the season in terms of consecutive games played without scoring a power-play goal.

Charlotte is just 4-for-73 on the power play (5.5 percent) over its last 19 games dating back to Nov. 22. Over the course of that time, it has fallen to 30th in the league with a season-long percentage of 8.6. With Ryan Murphy (seven points, all assists) in the NHL, no active Checker has more than four points on the power play this season (Brock McGinn and Justin Shugg).

In their previous four AHL seasons, the Checkers never finished lower than fifth in the league in terms of power-play percentage. Their lowest-ever percentage to finish a season was 19.8 percent. The lowest recorded power-play percentage for a season in AHL history is 10.4, set by the Rochester Americans in 2001-02.

Killing Success

In contrast to their power-play woes, the Checkers are a perfect 23-for-23 on the penalty kill over their last seven games dating back to Dec. 19, marking their longest streak of the season in terms of consecutive games played without allowing a power-play goal and in terms of consecutive penalties killed. During their current stretch, the Checkers have cracked the league's top 10 with an 86.1 percent success rate over the course of the entire season.

Charlotte has also been able to produce offense while shorthanded, with their six shorthanded goals tying them for second in the league and already putting them three ahead of their league-low total from all of last season. Chad LaRose leads the league in shorthanded assists and is tied for second in shorthanded points (3), while Greg Nemisz and Brendan Woods find themselves in a 13-way tie for second in the league with two shorthanded goals apiece.

We Meet Again

The Checkers have faced the same opponent in consecutive games 14 times this season. They are a combined 3-8-3 in the first halves of those series and a combined 7-6-1 in the second, including one instance where they won both games (against Milwaukee on Nov. 29 and 30) and three where they lost both (Grand Rapids on Oct. 17-18, San Antonio on Nov. 14-15 and Oklahoma City on Nov. 21-22).

Quick Hits

• Charlotte's five goals in its last game on Jan. 4 were one were than they had in their previous three games combined
• The Checkers have gone six consecutive games where they have neither scored nor allowed a power-play goal
• Kyle Hagel is tied for the AHL lead in major penalties (12)
• Drew MacIntyre is sixth in the AHL in saves (605) and tied for 13th in wins (10)

Streaks

• Justin Shugg has goals and points in each of his last three games (Dec. 31-Jan. 4: 3g, 2a)

Injuries

• Gabriel Desjardins - missed one game starting 1/4
• Beau Schmitz - missed 12 games starting 12/10
• Greg Nemisz - missed 13 games starting 12/8 (out for season)
• Brody Sutter - missed 22 games starting 11/15

Milestones

• Danny Biega played in his 100th AHL/pro game on Jan. 4
• Patrick Brown scored his first pro goal on Jan. 4
• Dennis Robertson scored his first pro goal on Dec. 31
• Justin Shugg played in his 200th pro game on Dec. 28

Transactions

Incoming

• Jan. 4 - (RW) Alex Aleardi recalled by Charlotte (AHL) from Florida (ECHL)
• Dec. 31 - (D) Austin Levi recalled by Charlotte (AHL) from Stockton (ECHL)

Outgoing

• Jan. 2 - (G) Daniel Altshuller assigned to Florida (ECHL)
• Jan. 2 - (C) A.J. Jenks released from PTO to Toledo (ECHL)