Game Preview: Checkers at Lake Erie (Jan. 31, 2014)

The Checkers look to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games when they begin a four-game road trip in Lake Erie tonight.

Tonight’s game, the first of a back-to-back set, marks the first meeting between the two clubs this season and the first since they split a pair of games in Cleveland on Jan. 3 and 4 of last season. They will meet twice more in Charlotte in mid-March to conclude their season series.

The Checkers’ current road trip, which also takes them to Abbotsford next week, is their longest since a six-game journey in October. Their 16 road games played are the fewest in the AHL.

Charlotte

In something of a surprise development, the Checkers are likely to have yet another new face manning their net tonight.

Veteran Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward joined the team on a conditioning stint Thursday as he attempts to work his way back from an injury that has kept him out since Dec. 31. It is the second injury suffered by the 2006 Stanley Cup winner and 2011 NHL All-Star this season, as he had played only six times since returning from a prior ailment.

"The opportunity to go down there and play will get him in a good mindset,” Carolina Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller told the Raleigh News and Observer. “The biggest thing is, health-wise, that he can get through a game and he feels good and feels comfortable."

The Hurricanes will be hoping the conditioning stint does Ward as much good as it did Anton Khudobin, who is 9-4-0 with a 2.27 goals-against average and .924 save percentage since returning from a similar conditioning stint with Charlotte.

Whenever Ward suits up for the Checkers (he is a good bet to play back-to-back games, as did Khudobin one month ago), it will mark his first AHL game since suiting up for the since-relocated Lowell Lock Monsters on Dec. 18, 2005. He will become the ninth goalie used by the Checkers this season, marking the most in the AHL and extending a franchise record that previously stood at five.

Should Ward not be available to play on Saturday for whatever reason, John Muse, who has won 12 of his last 14 starts dating back to Nov. 30, and Mike Murphy are also on the trip. Ward’s arrival will give the team at least one healthy extra at each position, with Brendan Woods available to supplement the 12 forwards who played in the team’s last game on Jan. 24 and Ryan Murphy beating Ward to Charlotte by one week.

Lake Erie

The Monsters have endured some tough times of late, with a 3-2 shootout win on the road over last-place Utica on Tuesday ending an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1). As the only other AHL team to lose seven consecutive games in regulation this season (each of the Monsters’ last two games have gone to the shootout), the Checkers know all too well how they feel.

Charlotte’s ability to rebound from their franchise-record skid into their period of recent resurgence has seen them overtake the Monsters in the standings, though that could potentially change this weekend as the Monsters sit in 12th place with 40 points, just three behind the 11th-place Checkers.

The Monsters recently got goalie Sami Aittokallio back from a brief recall to the Colorado Avalanche. He has split games with Calvin Pickard this season, with Aittokallio holding the better statistics between the two with a 2.89 goals-against average and .900 save percentage for the Monsters, who rank 25th in team defense with an average of 3.24 goals allowed per game.

Center Mark Olver leads the team in scoring with 29 points in 37 games, one more than winger Andrew Agozzino. Bryan Lerg (27 points) has missed the team’s last seven games.

Rookie Joey Hishon, a 2010 first-round draft pick who missed nearly two seasons with concussion problems, has 18 points in 30 games in his comeback season.

Checkers Notes

Goalies Galore

When Cam Ward plays his first game with the Checkers this weekend, he will become the ninth goalie to play for the team this season, marking the most of any AHL team and extending a single-season franchise record that previously stood at five. Goalies that have previously played for the Checkers this season are, in order of appearance: Justin Peters, Mike Murphy, Jesse Deckert, John Muse, Allen York, Rick DiPietro, Rob Madore and Anton Khudobin.

Ward, a 29-year-old former Stanley Cup champion, Conn Smythe winner and NHL All-Star, is set to play his first AHL game since another conditioning stint during his first season with the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 18, 2005. In 52 career AHL games with the Lowell Lock Monsters, Ward is 27-19-3 with a 2.02 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and six shutouts.

Of the three goaltenders on Carolina's roster prior to Ward's assignment to Charlotte (Peters and Khudobin), Ward will become the third to play for the Checkers this season.

Winning Streak

The Checkers' current four-game winning streak ties their longest of the season, a run orginally set from Dec. 10-19. Both streaks were set entirely at home, with each tying the franchise record for longest home winning streak orginally set from Nov. 20-30, 2011. The Checkers, who have out-scored their opponents by a 23-7 margin over the course of their current streak, are now 12-13-0 at Time Warner Cable Arena after starting the season with six consecutive regulation losses on home ice.

Charlotte's franchise record for longest overall winning streak is six games, set from Jan. 4-16 of last season. That stretch also marked part of one of three times that the team has won seven games during an eight-game span, which they have accomplished by going 6-1-0 since Jan. 3. The other came during a 6-1-0 stretch from Nov. 11-28, 2010.

In the Race

With seven wins in their last eight games, the Checkers have climbed to 11th place in the Western Conference and are currently just three points out of a playoff spot. Following a win in their last game on Jan. 24, they sat in seventh place - their highest standing since a win on Oct. 31 (their last game prior to a franchise-record, seven-game losing streak that still marks the longest in the AHL this season) put them in fifth.

The Checkers are now 21-19-1, with a win on Jan. 23 putting them over .500 for the first time since Nov. 7. They were a franchise-record six games under .500 as recently as Dec. 7 (8-14-1).

Big Win

The Checkers' 9-3 win over Oklahoma City in their most recent game on Jan. 24 marked just the third time that the team has scored nine or more goals in their four AHL seasons and first since a 9-5 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 23, 2011. It also tied a Texas game on Oct. 20 for the most goals scored by an AHL team in a single game this season. The Checkers' record of 10 goals was set in a 10-3 win over Syracuse on Dec. 6, 2013.

The recent six-goal victory over the Barons was the Checkers' largest margin of victory this season, eclipsing three previous five-goal wins. It was the largest since an 8-2 road game over the Milwaukee Admirals on Feb. 16, 2013, both of which fell one short of the franchise record set on two previous occasions.

Palushaj Picks up the Pace

Checkers forward Aaron Palushaj has 25 points (9g, 16a) in his last 18 AHL games. During that time period, he has at least one point in 16 of those games and has posted eight multi-point outings. His current seven-game point streak (6g, 5a) is his longest of the season and the second longest posted by a Checkers player this season (Chris Terry - nine games from Oct. 4-31). It is also the second-longest of his career, trailing an eight-game run with Hamilton to start the 2010-11 season.

Palushaj also has an active seven-game point streak on the road dating back to Nov. 19 (3g, 9a) that marks the longest active streak in the AHL and is tied for the fourth-longest streak posted by an AHL player at any point this season. His active seven-game road assist streak (9a) is tied for the second-longest in the league this season.

Palushaj now leads the Checkers with 39 points (t-7th AHL) and 24 assists (15th AHL), both of which are at least five more than any other Charlotte skater. His 14 goals rank second on the team behind Zach Boychuk (18).

High Scorers

Zach Boychuk (3g, 1a) and Chris Terry (4a) each tied the Checkers' franchise record for points in a single game during the team's 9-3 win over Oklahoma City on Jan. 24. The record was set on 14 previous occasions, including twice by Boychuk and once by Terry.

Terry's four-assist game was the fifth in team history, including his own four-assist performance on Jan. 20, 2012.

Hats Off to Boychuk

With three goals against Oklahoma City on Jan. 25, Zach Boychuk scored his second career AHL hat trick and the fourth in franchise history. Boychuk previously had three goals as part of another four-point performance at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 23, 2011, that also marked the last time the Checkers had scored nine or more goals until the recent win over the Barons.

Two of Boychuk's goals came on the power play, giving him 12 on the season to tie the franchise record for most in a single season (Jacob Micflikier in 2010-11) and take sole possession of the league lead. With 18 goals on the season, he is just two away from hitting the 20-goal mark at the AHL level for the fourth time in as many seasons with the Checkers and five away from his AHL career high of 23 set last season.

Other Checkers hat tricks occurred on Nov. 11, 2010 (Jacob Micflikier vs. Bridgeport) and Oct. 28, 2012 (Brett Sutter at Peoria).

Power Surge

The Checkers' five power-play goals on seven chances on Jan. 24 tied the franchise record for most power-play goals in a single game. That performance also tied two other instances for most by an AHL team this season (Texas on Oct. 20; Binghamton on Jan. 4). The only other time the Checkers scored five power-play goals in a single game was in an 8-2 win at Milwaukee on Feb. 16, 2013 (5-for-8).

For the season, the Checkers now rank second in the AHL with a 23.4 percent success rate.

All He Does Is Win

Checkers goalie John Muse has won each of his last five decisions, putting him just one short of his season high set from Nov. 30-Dec. 19 that tied the franchise record held by teammate Mike Murphy. Starting with his earlier streak, Muse has won 12 of his last 14 games to improve to 16-8-0 this season, while the other seven goalies the team has used are a combined 5-11-1.

Since rejoining the Checkers on a professional tryout contract on Oct. 23 (he later signed an AHL contract), Muse has a 2.39 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and three shutouts, including a 31-save performance against Oklahoma City on Jan. 23. A winner of two NCAA National Championships with Boston College and an ECHL Kelly Cup with the Florida Everblades, he has an all-time AHL record of 34-18-3 and is tied with Justin Peters for second in Checkers history with 33 wins. The team record of 42 is held by Murphy.

Fitting In

Since the Carolina Hurricanes acquired him from Calgary in a Dec. 30 trade and assigned him to Charlotte, forward Greg Nemisz has points in all six games he's played as a Checker (3g, 5a), including goals in each of his last three (3g, 1a). Prior to joining the Checkers, Nemisz, a 2008 first-round draft pick who scored 248 points (115g, 133a) in 246 career junior hockey games with the Windsor Spitfires, had just 19 points in his previous 87 AHL games with the Abbotsford Heat, including nine (5g, 4a) in 32 games this season.

Floodgates Open

Defenseman Mark Flood scored his ninth goal of the season against Norfolk on Jan. 19, pulling him into a second-place tie for most goals and power-play goals (six) among AHL defensemen.

In just 41 games, Flood, a 29-year-old veteran who scored just one goal in 52 games in the Russian KHL last season, has already tied Bryan Rodney (2010-11) for the second-highest goal total by a Checkers defenseman in a single season and is only one away from the team record of 10 set by Bobby Sanguinetti in 2011-12. He is also just two away from his AHL career high of 11 set with Manitoba during the 2010-11 campaign.

Penalty Shot

John Muse's penalty-shot save on Jan. 24 came on the first attempt of his AHL career. It also marked the fourth time a Checkers goalie has stopped a penalty shot in five all-time attempts. It was the first penalty shot in a Checkers game since Rob Madore stopped Norfolk's John Mitchell on March 26 of last season.

Against Lake Erie

Tonight will mark the ninth all-time meeting between Charlotte and Lake Erie since the Checkers joined the Western Conference prior to the 2011-12 season. Charlotte has a 3-2-3 record against the Monsters during that time, including a 2-1-1 record last season and an all-time record of 1-0-3 in Lake Erie. Three of the four games the Checkers have played in Lake Erie over the last two seasons have gone to overtime, with the Monsters winning all three.

Last season, the Checkers gave up just two total goals in two games in Lake Erie, including a 2-1 overtime loss on Jan. 3 and a 4-0 victory on Jan. 4.

Quick Hits

• Charlotte's current four-game road trip is its longest since playing six consecutive games on the road from Oct. 25-Nov. 2. Charlotte's 16 road games played are the fewest in the AHL.
• Charlotte's five third-period goals on Jan. 24 tied the second-most scored by an AHL team in a single period this season.
• In his first AHL game of the season on Jan. 24, Checkers defenseman Ryan Murphy recorded three assists, all on the power play, to set a professional career high for most points in a single game. His plus-3 rating tied his best as a pro, a mark set just three weeks earlier in Carolina's 4-3 overtime win over Washington on Jan. 2.
• Brett Sutter's fight on Jan. 24 was his first in the AHL since Jan. 13, 2013.
• The Checkers' 48 total penalty minutes on Jan. 24 were a team record. Combined with Oklahoma City's 76 penalty minutes in that game, the 124 total penalty minutes were also a Checkers record.
  
• The Checkers have scored three or more goals in 10 of their last 12 games. They are 19-6-0 when scoring three or more and 2-13-1 when scoring fewer than three.
• Charlotte ranks ninth in the AHL with an average of 3.02 goals per game. Following the last game of their seven-game losing streak on Nov. 20, they ranked 25th in the league at 2.44.
• The first period is the only period in which the Checkers have a positive goal differential (40 for, 37 against).

Player Streaks

• Aaron Palushaj has points in each of his last seven games (Jan. 10-24: 6g, 5a)
• Greg Nemisz has points in each of his last six games (Jan. 3-24: 3g, 5a) and goals in each of his last three (Jan. 19-24: 3g, 1a)
• John Muse has won each of his last five starts (Jan. 11-Jan. 24)
• Zach Boychuk has assists and points in each of his last two games (Jan. 23-24: 3g, 2a)
• Chris Terry has assists and points in each of his last two games (Jan. 23-24: 0g, 5a)
• Brett Sutter has goals and points in each of his last two games (Jan. 23-24: 2g, 2a)
• Danny Biega has assists and points in each of his last two games (Jan. 23-24: 0g, 2a)

Milestones

• Mark Flood is one game shy of 500 professional games
• Aaron Palushaj is one game shy of 300 professoinal games
• Brody Sutter is one game shy of 100 professional games
• Zach Boychuk is one goal shy of 100 AHL goals

Injuries

• Sean Dolan - missed 21 games starting Dec. 1
• Jared Staal - missed eight games starting Jan. 3
• Nicolas Blanchard - missed five games starting Jan. 17
• Brendan Woods - missed five games starting Jan. 17

Transactions

Incoming

• Jan. 30 - (G) Cam Ward assigned to Charlotte on a conditioning stint from Carolina (NHL)
• Jan. 29 - (RW) Aaron Palushaj reassigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)
• Jan. 24 - (D) Ryan Murphy assigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)

Outgoing

• Jan. 25 - (D) Beau Schmitz assigned to Florida (ECHL) from Charlotte