Game Preview: Checkers at Hershey (Feb. 9, 2019)

After a split at home during the week, the Checkers are back on the road this weekend for a couple of divisional matchups with the Hershey Bears. Here's everything you need to know before tonight’s puck drop.

1. BOUNCING BACK

The Checkers’ last outing was a tough defeat on home ice at the hands of the Cleveland Monsters by a 5-1 score. It marked the fifth time this season that the Checkers lost a game by at least four goals – all of which have come at home – but the good news for Charlotte is that the team has rebounded to win the following game in four of those instances.

2. IN THE CREASE

Alex Nedeljkovic continues to carry the bulk of the workload between the pipes for Charlotte this season, registering at least three wins more than any other netminder in the AHL. Nedeljkovic has stopped 74 of the 79 shots he’s faced over the last three games and is in the midst of an eight-game point streak. In fact, the netminder has suffered just one regulation loss since Dec. 2.

Callum Booth was recalled Friday and joined the team in Hershey after another stint in the ECHL with Reading. After two tough outings in his last appearances for Charlotte, Booth was lights out for the Royals, stopping 49 of the last 50 shots he faced over his last two games, winning both and picking up a shutout along the way.

Despite turning in his best performance of the season two weeks ago against Providence, stopping 28 of 29 shots he saw, Scott Darling is winless in his last five appearances for Charlotte. The veteran netminder hasn’t gotten much help in those contests, with the Checkers registering just four goals of support over those five games.

3. FRESHMAN PHENOM

With an assist in Tuesday’s win over Cleveland, Jake Bean now has 30 points on the season. That stands as the most among any rookie blue liner in the AHL and puts Bean just two shy of Trevor Carrick’s franchise record of 32 from his rookie year of 2014-15.

Bean has also lit the lamp nine times this season, the most by any rookie defenseman in franchise history and tied for the fourth most among any blue liner, with Mark Flood’s 13 standing as the record.

4. POWERING OUTAGE

The Checkers’ power play has had a rough go as of late, slipping into the bottom-third of the AHL’s rankings. Charlotte is scoreless in nine chances over the last three games and has scored just once in its last 26 power-play opportunities over the last seven games.

On the flip side the Checkers continue to boast a top-five penalty kill, though after going perfect over a three-game stretch, they surrendered a power-play goal in both matchups this week against Cleveland.

5. PREVIOUSLY

The Checkers and Bears have squared off twice before this season, both in Charlotte. The first was a back-and-forth affair that – despite the Checkers holding their opponent to just 13 shots all game – saw the two sides exchange goals until the shootout, when Morgan Geekie and Martin Necas both converted to give Charlotte a 4-3 win.

The next night featured significantly fewer fireworks, as two tallies would be all the Bears needed to secure the win. Vitek Vanecek denied all 25 shots that came his way to shut out the Checkers, who went scoreless on eight power-play attempts.

6. SCOUTING THE BEARS

Despite sitting sixth in the Atlantic Division, the Bears head into this weekend as Eastern Conference’s hottest team. Hershey is 9-0-1 in its last 10 contests, pushing the team to within four point of third place in the division.

Offensively the Bears have been paced by an experienced veteran corps, specifically Michael Sgarbossa and Riley Barber, the former of whom has 18 points in the last 19 games while the latter has 20 points in the last 17 games.

The Bears have been stronger on the other side of things for much of the season, running with the tandem of Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov. Vanecek has put together the better numbers of the two, going 11-8-2 with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage, but the rookie Samsonov is 6-0-1 in his last seven starts while allowing a total of just eight goals across that stretch.

7. TUNE IN

You can tune in to this weekend's broadcasts with a subscription to the league’s new streaming platform AHLTV. Sign up here and catch the action on the road.

As always, the radio broadcast will be available via the Checkers app or this link, so tune in and tweet Jason Shaya to let him know you’re listening!