Game Preview: Checkers at Grand Rapids (Oct. 21, 2015)

The Checkers month-long road trip to start the season continues along to Grand Rapids tonight, where they will square off for the first of two matchups this week with the Griffins.

After marching their way to the franchise's first 3-0 start, the Checkers were brought back down to Earth with a 9-5 shellacking by the Chicago Wolves last weekend. As the Checkers prepare to bounce back against the struggling Griffins, here are nine things to watch for.

1. AGAINST THE GRIFFINS

The Checkers and Griffins will meet Wednesday night for the 21st time. The Checkers hold a slight edge with an 11-8-1-0 mark against the Griffins and have an impressive 6-3-1-0 mark in Grand Rapids. Last season the Griffins took 11 of a possible 15 points against the Checkers, though in the clubs' most recent meeting, the last game of the 2014-15 season, the Checkers dropped seven goals on the playoff-bound Griffins.

Andy Miele was a Checkers-killer a season ago, recording seven points in seven games against Charlotte to lead the team. Phil Di Giuseppe paced the Checkers with six points in eight games, four of which came in the season finale.

2. HIGH-FLYING OFFENSE

The Checkers scored at least four goals 15 times and at least five goals five times throughout last season's 76-game slate. So far this season, the Checkers have put up four or more goals in each of their four contests and five or more in three of them.

Individually, six different skaters have four or more points thus far, with Trevor Carrick leading the way with six, and 14 skaters have more than one point. By comparison, through four games last season only four players had more than one point and no one had more than two.

That firepower hasn't made the Checkers invulnerable, however. Saturday's 9-5 loss to the Wolves marked the fourth time in the team's six years that Charlotte lost a game in which they scored at least five goals, and just the third time in regulation.

3. GROUNDED GRIFFINS

After having the most productive offensive attack in the AHL a season ago, the Griffins have struggled to get off the ground in 2015-16. Through their first four games, Grand Rapids has only managed four total goals and has been shut out twice.

The team obviously misses Teemu Pulkkinen, who has been a scoring machine in the AHL for the past few years as he has become a fixture in the Detroit lineup. Andy Miele, who finished second in the league in scoring last season, has yet to find his way onto the score sheet this year. In fact, of the seven returning players who finished in the top 10 in scoring on the team, only two (Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou) have registered a point, and none have scored a goal.

4. LINEUP SHUFFLE

The Checkers will again field a new-look lineup for tonight's matchup. The Hurricanes returned rookie defenseman Brett Pesce to Charlotte in exchange for Rasmus Rissanen, who was recalled last night. With Rissanen gone, some big minutes open up on the Charlotte blue line for one of the younger defensemen to grab. The likeliest candidate to grab those minutes seems to be Trevor Carrick, who is coming off a four-point game and has been off to a hot start this season. The move also opens an opportunity for Jake Chelios to stay in the lineup. Chelios has notched four points in two games since filling in after the Pesce recall. Rookie Tyler Ganly is also an option to enter the lineup. Ganly has served as a healthy extra in the last three games since making his pro debut in the Checkers' season opener.

As for the forwards, Justin Shugg missed Saturday's contest in Chicago with an injury and it's unclear whether he will be ready to go for tonight's game. With Brock McGinn in Carolina, if Shugg is unable to play Carter Sandlak and rookie Erik Karlsson, who have both been healthy extras at points this season, would find themselves in the lineup.

5. CARRICK's BIG NIGHT

Defensemen Trevor Carrick leads the Checkers with six points through his first four games. A big chunk of that total comes from his four-point effort against the Wolves on Saturday. The second-year pro notched two goals and two assists in the loss, marking the second four-point game of his young career (the first came in the last game of the 14-15 season). Carrick is just one of three blue liners in Checkers' history to record four points in a game and the only one to do it multiple times (Bobby Sanguinetti and Marc-Andre Gragnani each accomplished the feat once during their stints in Charlotte).

Dating back to last season, Carrick now has 19 points in his last 19 games.

6. ROOKIES MAKING A SPLASH

Sergey Tolchinsky and Jaccob Slavin's rookie campaigns are off to shining starts. Each player has five points so far, the most through the first four games of any Checkers' rookie season in franchise history.

Charlotte's single-season rookie record for points is 57, set by Zac Dalpe in 2010-11, while the defensemen mark is 32, set last season by Trevor Carrick.

7. STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

Despite having an overall goal differential of plus-five, the Checkers have struggled in the second period of games so far this season. Through four games, Charlotte has only scored in the middle frame twice, sporting a goal differential of minus-three.

Their saving grace has been their strong finishes. The Checkers have scored 12 goals in the third period this season, with a goal differential of plus-seven.

8. DI GIUSEPPE FEELING IT

After a strong second half of last season that saw him surge to rank second among team rookies in scoring, Phil Di Giuseppe has started his second pro season by recording a point in each of his first four games. The forward is also leading the team in shots on goal.

Dating back to last season, Di Giuseppe now has 10 points in his last seven contests.

9. CHASING HISTORY

Already the franchise goals leader, Zach Boychuk needs just two points to surpass Chris Terry and become the Checkers’ all-time points leader. He is also 16 shy of becoming the team’s all-time leader in games played, is 12 shy in assists, is one shy in power-play points and is one game-winner away from becoming the franchise leader in those categories.

Mark Morris earned his 341st AHL win on Sunday, giving him sole possession of ninth place all time. Morris now sits 12 shy of seventh place, though the coach currently in eight, Randy Cunneyworth, is also active behind the Rochester Americans' bench.