Game Preview: Checkers at Hartford (Jan. 26, 2018)

For their final two contests before the All-Star break, the Checkers are hitting the road to visit the Hartford Wolf Pack.

1. PREVIOUSLY ON

The Checkers and Wolf Pack have faced each other once before this season, way back on opening night. The back and forth contest found the visiting Checkers down 4-2 midway through the third, but a pair of quick strikes evened the score and set up Warren Foegele’s game-winning goal – the second of his pro debut – in the final minute of regulation.

The two squads will get familiar from this point, however, as the Charlotte and Hartford will square off seven times the rest of the season starting this weekend.

2. SCOUTING THE WOLF PACK

The Wolf Pack sit on the outside of the hyper-competitive Atlantic Division playoff race as one of three teams in the division with a record below .500. Despite that, the Checkers will be facing a Hartford team that has won three straight games, including dropping the division-leading Penguins last weekend.

3. WOLF PACK ATTACK

Hartford has had a tough go on both sides of the puck this season. Their offensive attack is tied for 24th in the AHL in terms of goals per game and has been held to two or fewer goals in nine of their last 12 contests. Acquired via trade in late November, Peter Holland had given the team some firepower with a near point-per-game production, but the forward is currently up with the Rangers. Offseason additions Cole Schneider and Scott Kosmachuk have given the Wolf Pack some bite offensively, however, while John Gilmour has emerged as a dangerous scoring threat from the blue line. Additionally, the Checkers will have to keep an eye on the rookie tandem of center Filip Chytil, who has six points in his last five games, and defenseman Neal Pionk, who has five points in his last five.

4. BETWEEN HARTFORD'S PIPES

The Wolf Pack haven’t fared any better on the defensive end, holding the second-worst goal-against per game average in the AHL. Rookie netminder Alexndar Georgiev has taken the bulk of the workload thus far, going 7-11-5 in 25 appearances, while Marek Mazanec, who has faced the Checkers many times during his tenure with Milwaukee, is 6-4-1 in 12 games. Neither goaltender sports a goals-against average below three, but Georgiev has picked up a win in each of his last three appearances – letting in a total of three goals along the way, while Mazanec has surrendered at least four goals in five of his 12 appearances this season.

5. GOALS APLENTY

The Checkers, who boast the third-ranked offense in the AHL this season, have been propelled by a trio of high-flying scorers.

Andrew Miller leads the way with 38 points, good for seventh in the AHL overall, making him the third-highest scorer through 42 games in franchise history. The only marks ahead of him are Aaron Palushaj’s 39 in 2013-14 and Jerome Samson’s 42 in 2010-11. The former would finish with 58 points in 68 games, while the latter finished with 54 points in 53 games.

Prior to this season, 2010-11 Samson was the only skater in franchise history to hit the 20-goal mark through 42 games, but the 2017-18 campaign has seen both Warren Foegele and Valentin Zykov reach that milestone. In Charlotte’s seven-year AHL history, 18 skaters have notched 20 goals over an entire season. 2017-18 will be the first season since 2014-15 to see multiple 20-goal scorers on the same team.

6. ALL STAR Z

After enduring a six-game scoreless streak – his previous long this season was two – Valentin Zykov went off for four points during this weekend’s two-game set with Rochester. The Russian’s two-goal effort on Sunday, his fourth multi-goal game of the season, moved him back into a tie for the league goal lead with Texas’ Curtis McKenzie and Utica’s Reid Boucher.

Following the two-game series in Hartford next weekend, Zykov will be headed to Utica to represent the Checkers at the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic.

7. FOEGELE FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS

Not to be outdone, Warren Foegele lit the lamp three times in four games this week to bring his total to 20, moving him into a tie for fourth in the AHL. The 21-year-old now leads all rookies in goals and ranks fifth in scoring.

Of Foegele’s 20 goals this season, none have come on the man advantage. By comparison, the rest of the AHL’s top six goal scorers all have at least six power-play goals this season.

Foegele, who has already set franchise single-season records for shorthanded goals and points– two categories he currently holds a share of the league lead in – is already the third-highest scoring rookie in franchise history. He needs just five more to pass Lucas Wallmark’s 24 goals from a year ago.

8. FREE HOCKEY

Prior to last night’s overtime win Rochester, the Checkers were the lone team in the AHL to not have a game decided in overtime. In fact, they had only had one game go beyond regulation this season, a shootout loss to Providence on Nov. 26.

Even now, the Checkers have played the fewest games past overtime of any AHL team this season, but are one of only four teams without an overtime loss.
On the flip side, the Wolf Pack have seen 14 of their games go to overtime, including 10 of their last 22 and each of their last three.

9. POTTING POINTS

Of Andrew Poturalski’s 25 points this season, 15 have come during the last 19 games. The reigning team scoring leader is currently in the midst of a six-game point streak, just two shy of matching Andrew Miller’s eight-game run that stands as the longest by a Checker this season, and has registered an assist in four straight games, tied for the second-longest active such streak in the league.

10. SHOT STOPPERS

The Checkers have quietly become one of the stingiest teams in the league. Rochester was able to record 30 shots on goal Sunday, marking the first time an opponent has been able to reach the 30-shot mark against Charlotte since Dec. 13. The Checkers are currently averaging 27.24 shots against them per game, the third-best mark in the league.

11. 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.

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.