Game Preview: Checkers at Rockford (April 19, 2014)

Having missed out on the postseason last night, the Checkers conclude the 2013-14 season with a game in Rockford tonight.

Both Charlotte and Rockford were among three teams battling for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference as of yesterday, but regulation losses by both teams and a single point earned by Oklahoma City were enough to hand the eighth seed to the Barons. The Checkers lost 5-1 in Milwaukee, while Rockford dropped a 5-3 decision to Chicago at home to render what could have been a winner-take-all affair tonight relatively meaningless in terms of the final standings.

Tonight is the first meeting between Charlotte and Rockford since Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Anton Khudobin backstopped the Checkers to a 3-2 win on Dec. 30. Charlotte leads the season series with a record of 4-2-0.

Charlotte

The Checkers didn’t necessarily have to win on Friday depending on other results around the league. Whether it was on their own ice surface or those in other cities, very little ended up going their way.

Milwaukee gradually took control of the game after a good start for the Checkers, tacking on three second-period goals on the heels of one from late in the first to take a commanding 4-0 lead. Ryan Murphy scored his team’s only goal with 11 seconds left in the second period, but the Barons, who had already qualified for the playoffs, restored the four-goal lead and cruised to a fifth straight victory in the third.

Despite the loss, it looked as though the Checkers might live to fight another day when Iowa came back from a 2-0 first period deficit to take the lead over Oklahoma City with just under five minutes remaining in regulation. However, the Barons struck back with 2:01 on the clock to get the point that got them into the postseason at the expense of both Charlotte and Rockford.

The end result was that the Checkers will miss out on the playoffs for the second time in four AHL seasons, having spent much of the campaign trying to fight back from a franchise-record, seven-game losing streak in November. They accomplished that by getting back into playoff position during a record-setting 12-4-0 month of March, only to lose it once again with a 1-5-0 start to April.

Given that there’s little else but pride to play for in today’s game, it’s possible that coach Jeff Daniels could hand lineup spots to some of his younger players who joined the team on late-season tryouts from the college and junior level. Sergey Tolchinsky, a diminutive but dynamic junior hockey star, awaits his debut after joining up last week, while defenseman Dennis Robertson has yet to play for the Checkers after signing his first pro contract with the Hurricanes on March 20.

Phil Di Giuseppe, the third healthy extra from Friday’s game, has made two appearances for the Checkers since signing his first contract out of the University of Michigan on March 26. Forwards Philippe Cornet, Greg Nemisz and Brendan Woods remain sidelined.

Another development to watch for is Zach Boychuk’s bid to earn the Willie Marshall award as the AHL’s top goal scorer – something that, barring any late drama from around the league, he is already likely to win. With a franchise-record 36 goals, Boychuk, a Second-Team AHL All Star, has four more than second-place Travis Morin of Texas, the league’s MVP.

Rockford

Another team that fell out of position with a late-season slide, Rockford lost for the seventh time in its last nine games on Friday. Prior to that stretch, the IceHogs had won 11 of 13 between Jan. 25 and Feb. 25 to earn a spot in the top eight.

After giving up a goal just 1:07 into the game against Chicago, Rockford took leads of 2-1 in the first period and 3-2 midway through the second before allowing the Wolves to score the next three, including an empty-net tally. Rookie Phillip Danault led the way with a goal and an assist, while veteran goalie Jason LaBarbera made 25 saves.

LaBarbera would normally get this start after playing in each of the last seven games, but a possible rest earned with the chances of making the playoffs gone could lead to rookie Kent Simpson going in. Even if the IceHogs decide to give more of their young players a chance, they would still have a trio of recent first-round draft picks in Teuvo Teravainen, a highly-touted Chicago Blackhawks prospect who has one goal in four AHL games, Danault and Mark McNeill.

Despite that youth, Rockford’s best player this season has been Adam Clendening, a First-Team All Star who ranks second among AHL defensemen with 59 points in 74 games. Along with Toronto’s T.J. Brennan, who earned the league’s defensemen of the year award by scoring 72 points in 75 games, Clendening is one of two blueliners to lead his team in scoring.

With the Blackhawks in the playoffs, Rockford is without a handful of players the Checkers faced earlier this season. Jeremy Morin, who leads IceHogs forwards with 47 points in 47 games, and Joakim Nordstrom were both healthy extras in Chicago’s Game 1 loss to St. Louis on Thursday.

Balancing out the loss of those players is Pierre-Marc Bouchard, a veteran of 593 NHL games who has 20 points in 24 games with Rockford. That said, he has just one point in his last six outings and did not play on Friday.

Checkers Notes

Against Rockford

After playing Rockford seven times in the first three months of the season, tonight marks the Checkers’ first meeting with the IceHogs since they picked up a 3-2 win in Rockford on Dec. 30. Charlotte is 4-2-1 in the season series, with the teams alternating wins and losses in each of the last five. All-time, the Checkers are 11-6-2 against the IceHogs, including a 9-1-1 mark on the road.

Mark Flood leads the Checkers with seven points (4g, 3a) in seven games against Rockford. Two of the IceHogs’ top three scorers in the season series, Brad Winchester (six points) and Joakim Nordstrom (five) are no longer on the active roster, though defenseman Klas Dahlbeck (2g, 3a) remains.

The Checkers have used five different goaltenders against the IceHogs this season, with John Muse leading the way with a 3-0-0 record, 2.30 goals-against average and .926 save percentage. Mike Murphy lost his only start, stopping 22 of 26 shots on Dec. 7. On the Rockford side, Kent Simpson is 2-2-0 with a 3.20 GAA and .896 SV% against the Checkers, while Jason LaBarbera has yet to face them.

Charlotte is converting at a 35.3 percent rate on the power play (12-for-34) and at a 86.7 percent clip (26-for-30) on the penalty kill against Rockford this season.

Checkers Miss Playoffs

A 5-1 loss to Milwaukee on Friday, combined with Oklahoma City earning a point agianst Iowa, knocked the Checkers out of playoff contention for the second time in their four AHL seasons. In the two seasons they did not make the playoffs, the final blow came on the season's final weekend with lopsided losses in Milwaukee. On April 15, 2012, the Checkers lost 6-1 to the Admirals when both teams could have qualified simply by getting to overtime.

Having played much of the season outside of the Western Conference's top eight following a seven-game losing streak in November, the Checkers, thanks to a 12-4-0 month of March, pulled above the cutoff line for a two-week period between March 26 and April 4 but fell out of contention by going 1-5-0 in April.

While March was the second-best month in team history in terms of percentage of possible points earned (75 percent), April has the potential to be their worst (currently 16.7 percent). The Checkers went 2-9-0 this past November (18.2 percent), which is currently the least-successful month in team history.

Boychuk Chasing Goals Title

Checkers forward Zach Boychuk leads the league with 36 goals, giving him four more than second-place Travis Morin of Texas. As long as Boychuk can hold his lead today, he will win the Willie Marshall award as the AHL's top goal scorer at the conclusion of the season.

Boychuk's goal total is a career high, surpassing his 23 goals from last season, and a franchise-record, surpassing Chris Terry's 34 goals in 2010-11. He has 102 goals as a Checker, putting him one behind Terry for the franchise's all-time record. Eighteen of his goals have come on the power play, marking another franchise record and league lead.

With 73 points this season that top his old team record of 65 set in the 2010-11 season, Boychuk ranks second in the AHL behind Morin, the league's MVP who has 87. That earned him a spot on the AHL's Second All-Star Team announced April 10. The AHL's Player of the Month in March, Boychuk has 28 points (13g, 15a) in 22 games since March 1.

Floodgates Open

Mark Flood is enjoying the best goal-scoring season by a defenseman in Checkers history, with his 13 goals ranking fourth among AHL blueliners and breaking the old record of 10 set by Bobby Sanguinetti in 2011-12. Flood's eight power-play goals (third AHL defensemen) are also a new team record for a defenseman, breaking Sanguinetti's mark of seven also set in 2011-12.

Flood, who played his 500th professional game earlier this season, has already topped his previous AHL career high of 11 goals set with Manitoba in 2010-11. He scored just one goal in 52 games with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the KHL last season.

Power Players

Both Zach Boychuk (first AHL with 18) and Chris Terry (fifth with 14) have broken the franchise record for most power-play goals in a single season previously held by Jacob Micflikier (12 goals in 2010-11). Meanwhile, Mark Flood's eight power-play goals are the-third most by an AHL defenseman and are the most ever by a Checkers blueliner in a single season, breaking Bobby Sanguinetti's record of seven from 2011-12.

The 32 total goals by Boychuk and Terry are the most of any two teammates in the league, with Texas' Chris Mueller and Colton Sceviour coming in second with 28. Boychuk and Terry are responsible for 44.4 percent of the Checkers' 72 power-play goals this season. Terry ranks third in the league with 36 power-play points, while Boychuk is tied for fifth with 33.

The Checkers currently rank second in the AHL with a 22.2 percent success rate on the power play - a mark that, if sustained for the final game of the season, would mark the highest of their four AHL campaigns. The team has never converted at a rate lower than 19.8 percent over the course an entire season.

Quick Hits

• The Checkers scored exactly one goal in three of their last five games, all losses.
• Chris Terry ranks tied for fourth in the AHL with 227 shots on goal. He has recorded at least one shot on goal in 112 consecutive games dating back to Dec. 28, 2012.
• Chris Terry is three away from tying the club record for assists in a single season (43) set by Zach Boychuk in 2010-11 and tied by Terry in 2011-12.
• Ryan Murphy has points in eight consecutive road games, marking the fourth-longest streak of its kind in the AHL. He has points in 10 of the 12 road games he has played this season.
• Charlotte's seven regulation losses when leading after the first period (17-7-1) are tied with Bridgeport and Portland for the most in the AHL.
• Brett Sutter has tied his career high of 29 assists set last season despite playing nine fewer games.
• Rasmus Rissanen ranks third in minor penalties by AHL defensemen (38). Matt Corrente is tied for third in major penalties by defensemen (12).
• The Checkers' 10 overtime games and six shootouts are the fewest in the league. Charlotte's .700 winning percentage in overtime (7-3) leads the league, as does its 41.9 shooting percentage in the shootout.
• The Checkers' three shorthanded goals are the fewest in the AHL. They have never scored fewer than six in a single season.
• Charlotte is 11-11-1 against the the Midwest Division

Player Streaks

• Philippe Cornet has points in each of his last three games (April 6-13: 1g, 2a)

Milestones

• Brody Sutter is one shy of 50 professional points
• Matt Marquardt is two shy of 150 professional points
• Chris Terry is two shy of 300 AHL points
• Chris Terry is two shy of 150 Checkers assists
• Matt Marquardt played his 400th professional game on April 18

Injuries

• Philippe Cornet - missed one game starting April 18
• Greg Nemisz - missed 19 games starting March 8
• Brendan Woods - missed 25 games starting Feb. 22

Transactions

Incoming

• April 12 - (LW) Zach Boychuk reassigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)

Outgoing

• April 14 - (RW) Matthew Pistilli released from professional tryout contract