FIVE STORYLINES
BUSY WEEKEND
This weekend marks the first three-in-three of the season for Charlotte. The Checkers will face that scheduling quirk four times this season - all of them on the road and three of them featuring a trio of different opponents.GOING STREAKING
After dropping their season opener in Hershey, the Checkers have come away with points in each of their last three games, posting a 2-0-1-0 mark. That run includes wins over two of the top three teams in the Atlantic Division - Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - and has seen Charlotte outscore its opponents 10-6. They’ll be bringing that hot streak to Providence to face a Bruins team heading in the opposite direction. The Bruins won their season opener but have since gone winless in four straight - posting an 0-2-1-1 record over that run - and they have scored just two goals over their last three contests while being outscored 8-2.TOP LINE TERRORIZING OPPONENTS
The line of Alex True, Logan Hutsko and Max McCormick has been a beast for Charlotte early on this season. True has lead the way with seven points through the first four games - tied for the third highest mark at that point in franchise history - while Hutsko is just the second Checkers rookie ever to put up a point in each of the first four games of a season, currently standing at five. McCormick is off to the best start to an AHL season in his career, sitting in a tie with Hutsko for second on the team in scoring. The trio have carried the bulk of the offense for Charlotte thus far, as at least one of those players has factored into eight of the 12 goals that the Checkers have scored this season, and six of those 12 goals have featured at least two-thirds of the line.STRONG BETWEEN THE PIPES
Charlotte’s current tandem of Christopher Gibson and Antoine Bibeau both head into the weekend coming off stellar outings. The veteran Gibson posted a Checkers’ season-high 33 saves in Friday’s win over Hershey, while Bibeau earned his squad a point the following night by turning in 64 minutes of one-goal hockey before the Bears notched a late overtime winner. They will be opposite a trio of netminders on the Providence roster in Troy Groesnick, Kyle Keyser and Callum Booth. The veteran Groesnick only appeared in the Bruins season opener, while the former Checker Booth got the start in the team’s second-to-last game. Otherwise, Keyser has had the bulk of the workload between the pipes, starting three of the last four contests and appearing in all but one of Providence’s games.TURNING THE PK AROUND
After surrendering five power-play goals over the first three games of the season, the Checkers turned things around in their most recent outing, holding Hershey off the board on three man advantages. Charlotte enters Friday’s contest having killed five consecutive power plays and will look to keep that trend going against a Providence squad that has scored once in its last 16 man advantages.COMING IN
CLT: 2-1-1-0 this seasonPRO: 1-2-1-1 this season
WHO TO WATCH
CLT
Logan Hutsko - 5 points in last 4 gamesAlex True - 7 points in last 4 games
Max McCormick – 5 points in last 4 games
PRO
Jakub Lauko – 3 points in last 4 gamesJack Ahcan – 2 points in last 3 games
Chris Wagner – 1 point in last 3 games
TUNE IN
Tonight's contest starts at 7:05 p.m. in Providence, and as always you can listen to the game for free via the Checkers app on iPhone or Android. You can also watch via the league’s AHLTV service.And new for this season, our friends over at Ed's Tavern on 2200 Park Road are going to be showing the game on their TVs!
