Game Preview: Checkers at Norfolk (Jan. 28, 2014)

UPDATE: Tonight's game has been postponed due to inclement weather in Norfolk. A makeup date has been set for Tuesday, March 4, at 7:15 p.m. Click here for more details.

The Checkers look to extend their winning streak to five games as they begin a five-game road swing in Norfolk tonight.

A victory tonight would result in the team’s longest winning streak of the season and their eighth victory in nine games. It would also improve them to 4-1-0 against Norfolk this season, with each of the last three wins coming at home after the Checkers dropped the initial meeting between the two teams in their only other trip to Norfolk on Nov. 27. Charlotte currently has a 6-4 points lead over the Admirals in the GEICO Challenge Cup, which is awarded to the team with the better head-to-head record at the conclusion of the eight-game season series.

Following tonight’s game, the Checkers briefly return home before leaving for a four-game trip that includes two games apiece in Lake Erie and Abbotsford.

Charlotte

The Checkers’ last game, a 9-3 win over the Oklahoma City Barons on Race Night last Friday, was likely their highest point of the season to date. In addition to setting or tying several franchise records, it got the team back to playoff position for the first time in over two months, though it has since slid down to 11th – just one point behind the three teams ahead of it – due to an idle weekend.

As was the case during the team’s franchise-record, seven-game losing streak in November that it has since canceled out with its 13-5-0 record since Dec. 10, the Checkers' challenge going forward will be managing both the highs and the lows of their season.

“You want to be steady and constant, enjoy the wins, and with the losses, realize what you’ve got to do to get back on the horse,” said coach Jeff Daniels.

After setting season highs for goals scored, victory margin, power-play goals and penalty minutes on Friday, that message is especially relevant now.

“We’re going into a tough building to play against a team that’s big and strong and playing really well,” said Daniels. “Our guys had one of those games on Friday but have also got to realize that it’s going to be a grind on Tuesday.”

The Checkers will be without scoring leader Aaron Palushaj, who the Carolina Hurricanes recalled for their simultaneous game in Montreal. Palushaj currently holds a seven-game point streak at the AHL level and has posted 25 points in his last 18 outings on a line with Brody Sutter and either Nicolas Blanchard or Greg Nemisz.

To fill the hole left by Palushaj, the Checkers could be counting on Brendan Woods to return from a five-game injury absence. Other options would be to dress seven defensemen (Keegan Lowe sat out Friday’s game as a healthy extra) or bring a player in from the ECHL level.

Woods practiced fully with the team for the first time since his injury on Monday, as did Sean Dolan, who has missed the last 20 games. Blanchard and Jared Staal skated but had not yet been cleared for contact.

Though Palushaj had been the Checkers’ most consistent scorer of late, the team has no shortage of players who will be feeling confident about their offensive ability. Zach Boychuk (3g, 1a) and Chris Terry (4a) each tied the franchise record for most points in a single game on Friday, while Nemisz has a six-game point streak, including goals in three straight, and Ryan Murphy posted three assists in his first AHL game of the season on Friday.

Norfolk

Though Charlotte has shown signs of taking control of the season series against Norfolk of late, the games have certainly been close.

All three Checkers wins have come by one goal, including one by way of overtime and one by way of shootout. The shootout win came on the most recent meeting on Jan. 19, which marked the second in Charlotte’s current four-game streak. In that game, Norfolk jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the Checkers rallied to tie it at 2-2 and 3-3 while firing a season-high 53 shots at goalie Brad Thiessen, a former AHL goaltender of the year who played in the Admirals’ last game, a 2-1 shootout loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday.

The Admirals are also in the thick of a playoff race, albeit in a different conference, as they sit in sixth place but are only two points above the cutoff line in the East. Though they have alternated wins and losses over the course of their last eight games since Jan. 10, they enter tonight’s game with a six-game point streak (3-0-3). Six of their last nine games have gone to overtime, giving them the most such games in the league (17), compared to the Checkers’ fewest (four).

Anaheim first-round draft pick Emerson Etem continues to lead the way offensively with 28 points in 22 games, though he has scored just four points, all assists, in his last seven outings. Fellow Ducks prospect Devante Smith-Pelly has helped pick up some of that slack with three goals in his last two games and 12 points (8g, 4a) in his last 10.

Rookie Rickard Rakell, another Anaheim first-rounder who is tied with Etem for the team’s scoring lead, has missed the team’s last five games. Defenseman Steve Eminger, a 30-year-old veteran of 488 NHL contests, is expected to play his second game with the Admirals after leaving his KHL team and signing an AHL deal on Friday. Defenseman Sami Vatanen has three assists in two games since returning from a long NHL stint, giving him six points (1g, 5a) in four AHL games this season.

Should the Admirals continue an even rotation in goal that they’ve employed in their last four games, top rookie John Gibson would get the start tonight. He has allowed just one goal on the last 41 shots he’s faced in back-to-back wins but has struggled against the Checkers this season, going 1-2-0 with a 3.61 goals-against average and .882 save percentage.

Checkers Notes

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 one point 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 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.

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 Norfolk

In 32 previous meetings between Charlotte and Norfolk, the Checkers have a record of 17-12-3, including a 3-1-0 mark this season. The teams were formerly East Division rivals in the Checkers' inaugural AHL season in 2010-11, with Norfolk just one of two Eastern Conference teams (Hershey) that the Checkers have played since moving to the Western Conference the following season.

In the two previous seasons of its existence, each team captured one GEICO Challenge Cup, which is awarded to the team that finishes with the most points at the conclusion of the eight-game season series. Charlotte won with a 5-3-0 record last season but went just 2-5-1 against the Admirals during their Calder Cup season in 2011-12.

Quick Hits

• 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.
• Charlotte's upcoming five-game road swing 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.
• The first period is the only period in which the Checkers have a positive goal differential (40 for, 37 against).

Player Streaks

• 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

• Zach Boychuk is one goal shy of 100 AHL goals
• Zach Boychuk recorded his 100th Checkers assist at Oklahoma City on Jan. 23

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. 24 - (D) Ryan Murphy assigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)

Outgoing

• Jan. 27 - (RW) Aaron Palushaj recalled to Carolina (NHL) from Charlotte
• Jan. 25 - (D) Beau Schmitz assigned to Florida (ECHL) from Charlotte