Game Preview: Checkers at Milwaukee (Dec. 27, 2013)

With their five-day holiday break now complete, the Checkers return to action for a three-game road trip starting tonight in Milwaukee.

Due to the break and a 10-game home stand that preceded it, tonight's game will be the Checkers' first on the road since Nov. 27 – the day before Thanksgiving. With the team only starting to emerge from a franchise-record, seven-game losing streak at the time, Charlotte carries a four-game road losing streak into tonight's game, with its last victory away from home coming all the way back on Halloween.

Following its first visit of the season to Milwaukee tonight, Charlotte continues its trip with games in Chicago on Sunday and Rockford on Monday before returning home to face the Texas Stars on Jan. 2 and 3.

Charlotte

The Checkers entered their holiday hiatus with back-to-back losses against the Toronto Marlies on Dec. 20 and 21 – games that were part of a three-in-three set that started with a win over Norfolk on the 19th. Despite entering this game on a losing streak, the Checkers, now seven points out of a playoff spot with games in hand on many teams, feel as though they have solid footing with which to begin a run up the standings.

“A few weeks ago we weren’t having fun and things weren’t clicking for us, but now even the games that we’re losing I don’t think that we’re playing the way we were then,” said captain Brett Sutter, who scored his second goal of the season in the team’s last game. “We’re working hard and our system has tightened up a lot, so as long as we keep sticking with it and working hard every day, the track we’re on right now is fine.”

It appears that the Checkers will have to push forward without one of the main catalysts that helped them to win four of their last six games: scoring leader Zach Boychuk. On Thursday night, Boychuk, who ranks first on the team with 14 goals and 27 points in 29 games, tweeted that he was in Raleigh to take part in the Carolina Hurricanes’ game against Pittsburgh.

Since Boychuk’s breakout first began on Nov. 14, no AHL player has scored as many goals as his 12, which came in the span of just 16 games. He leads the league with 10 power-play goals, which tie his career high and are just two short of the team’s single-season record, and is tied for first with 16 power-play points. With Boychuk in the lineup, the Checkers have scored at least one power-play goal in each of their last 10 games, setting a new team record.

Boychuk had been skating on a line with Sutter and Chris Terry, who will now be responsible for shouldering more of the offensive load along with the likes of Philippe Cornet, Aaron Palushaj, Victor Rask and Justin Shugg. Terry, now the team's active scoring leader with 23 points in 23 games, has 13 points (5g, 8a) in his last 11 games.

With the Checkers unlikely to get help from a still-injured foursome of forwards Sean Dolan and Jared Staal and defensemen Danny Biega and Rasmus Rissanen, they will likely have to find a player from ECHL ranks to play tonight. Kyle Bonis and Kellan Tochkin are the only healthy players on the team’s Florida Everblades affiliate under contract with either Carolina or Charlotte, though the team could go the professional tryout route as it did with center A.J. Jenks earlier this month.

Update: To replace Boychuk, who the Hurricanes officially recalled on Friday morning, former Checker Matthew Pistilli, the ECHL's current scoring leader, has rejoined the team on a PTO. Full story

Milwaukee

The Admirals, who split a two-game set in Charlotte on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, are one of the teams the Checkers are hoping to catch in the standings as they lead a pack of teams separated by just six points that occupy spots five through 10 in the Western Conference race. Following tonight's match-up, the teams will face each other just one more time for the season's penultimate game on April 18.

Though Charlotte was able to earn a big 4-1 victory in the teams' first meeting of the season, it suffered a 2-1 setback the following night that featured a scoreline more indicative of the Admirals' style of play. A sound defensive team mirroring that of its NHL parent club in Nashville, Milwaukee ranks 21st in AHL goal scoring (2.64 goals per game) but is fifth in team defense (2.50 allowed per game). A team that was struggling to score when it last met the Checkers, Milwaukee has managed three or more goals in three of its last four games.

In what would normally be an advantage for the Checkers, Milwaukee played last night – a 4-1 win over the high-flying Grand Rapids Griffins, while Charlotte rested. However, it could be that the Admirals have had more opportunity to shake off the holiday rust, with the Checkers only having one practice under their belts since reconvening on Thursday.

Milwaukee's Thursday victory, in which it scored three second-period goals to go ahead 3-0 and never looked back, gave it points in seven of its last nine games (6-2-1), with both losses coming against the first-place Griffins. Scott Darling, who briefly served as the Checkers' backup goalie two seasons ago and picked up the victory in the teams' last meeting, made 29 saves on Thursday.

With Darling playing last night, it's possible that the Checkers would see Magnus Hellberg, who they beat for three goals on 30 shots on Nov. 30. Hellberg, the team's most-used goalie, has posted a 2.73 goals-against average and .917 save percentage but has been in net for 11 of the team's 12 losses (4-11-1).

Checkers Notes

Power Players

The Checkers, who rank third in the AHL with a 23.9 percent success rate on the power play, have scored at least one man-advantage goal in each of their last 10 games (12-for-40; 30 percent). That marks the longest streak in franchise history, topping a nine-game run set from Jan. 2-Feb. 3, 2012 (15-for-44; 34.1 percent).

The Checkers have scored 42.9 percent of their goals on the power play this season (33 of 77), which is the highest percentage of any AHL team. The Checkers are 1-6-0 when they do not score a power-play goal.

On the Road

Tonight's game will mark the Checkers' first on the road since Nov. 27, which preceded a 10-game home stand. That loss to Norfolk was Charlotte's fourth consecutive regulation loss on the road, which marks a franchise record and is the longest active streak of its kind in the AHL. Prior to that streak, the Checkers began the season with points in each of their first five road games (4-0-1).

The Checkers' 11 road games this season mark the second-fewest in the AHL behind Iowa's 10.

Penalty-Killing Prowess

Though the Checkers rank tied for 22nd in AHL penalty-killing at 80.7 percent, they have held opponents off the board in 10 of their last 13 games, including four straight (12-for-12 since Dec. 15). Since Nov. 23, the Checkers are killing penalties at a rate of 88.4 percent (38-for-43), which would rank second in the league if applied to the full season.

Divided Division

In 29 games, the Checkers have played against their own division, the West, just five times (4-1-0), marking the fewest games that any AHL team has played within its own division. They will not play another divisional game until facing Texas on Jan. 2, which marks the start of a run in which they will play eight of nine games against divisional opponents. The West Division is the only division that the Checkers have a winning record against.

Quick Hits

• Chris Terry has recorded multiple points in five of his last 10 games
• Six of the Checkers' last nine games have been decided by one goal. They are 5-1-0 in those games.
• The Checkers have yet to be shut out this season, but they have scored one goal on eight separate occasions, all losses.
• Charlotte's three overtime games are the fewest in the league, as is its lone shootout appearance.
• Charlotte is one of three teams that have yet to score a shorthanded goal.
• Mark Flood is tied for second among all AHL defensemen with eight goals and is tied for second with five power-play goals.
• Matt Corrente ranks tied for fourth among all AHL defensemen with five major penalties.
• Charlotte has both scored (29) and allowed (35) more goals in the third period than in any other period.

Player Streaks

• none

Milestones

• none

Injuries

• Sean Dolan - missed nine games starting Dec. 1
• Jared Staal - missed eight games starting Dec. 5
• Rasmus Rissanen - missed six games starting Dec. 10
• Danny Biega - missed four games starting Dec. 15

Transactions

Incoming

• Dec. 27 - (RW) Matthew Pistilli signed to professional tryout contract

Outgoing

• Dec. 27 - (LW) Zach Boychuk recalled to Carolina (NHL) from Charlotte