Game Preview: Checkers at San Antonio (March 17, 2015)

The Checkers look to bounce back from a lopsided loss as they conclude the first leg of their season-long road swing in San Antonio tonight.

Charlotte, which had been performing well for the previous two weeks, crashed to a 6-1 defeat in Oklahoma City on Sunday that ended its winning streak at two games. It came on the heels of several solid defensive efforts against high-powered offenses, namely a pair of 2-1 victories over Grand Rapids (Thursday) and Oklahoma City (Sunday).

Following tonight's game, the last that the Checkers will play against the division rival Rampage this season, the team briefly returns home before heading out an another road trip to Iowa.

Charlotte

After taking their second-worst loss of the season on Sunday, the Checkers will have to quickly regroup before taking on another divisional foe in San Antonio.

As they have most of the season, the Checkers are struggling to put pucks in the net. In five of their last six contests, the Checkers have scored two or fewer goals. Though they've mostly had to rely on top performers like Zach Boychuk, Trevor Carrick and Justin Shugg to produce, the Checkers have been getting some help production-wise from some other sources. Rookies Dennis Robertson and Phil Di Giuseppe have each found their groove as of late. Robertson has a point in five of his last six games, moving him into third among Checkers rookies in assists. Di Giuseppe has the lone active scoring streak on the team, with a point in each of his last two games.

On the defensive side of things, the Checkers had been doing a good job of keeping thei opponents in check, holding them to three goals or less in four of their last five games, with the one outlier being the Barons' six-goal outburst Sunday. With their patchwork blueline seeminly beginning to mesh prior to that game, the team will need to shake off that performance and keep out of the box, something that hurt them down the stretch in OKC. With Mike Cornell sent to the locker room after a game misconduct and Trevor Carrick on a continuous route to the penalty box, the Checkers were left with just four serviceable defensemen for stretches of the third period.

In net, the Checkers have reverted back to alternating starts after Drew MacIntyre took three in a row at home. The veteran saw his worst result on Sunday, with the Barons lighting him and the entire Checkers defense up for six goals on 36 shots. With tonight's tilt in San Antonio being the lone game before a weekend back-to-back in Iowa, John Muse could be tapped for the start. Muse has been fairly impressive of late, winning five of his last seven starts.

San Antonio

Starting with a 5-2 shellacking of the Checkers in Charlotte earlier this month, the Rampage have taken four of their last five games to grab a hold of the fourth seed in the Western Conference.

The dynamic duo of Bobby Butler and Mark Mancari continues to pace the second-ranked San Antonio offense, with Butler propelling himself to eighth in the AHL in scoring. They have also seen the emergence of rookie forward Connor Brickley, who ranks fourth among AHL rookies in goals and sixth in points.

While their offense still ranks second in the league, it has been up and down during this last stretch. The Rampage have been shut out twice in their last seven games, while scoring three goals or more in four of those five other games. Apart from their top duo, Brett Olson has stepped up, ranking third on the team in scoring and registering five points in his last four games. They also have former two-time NHL 50-goal scorer Dany Heatley, who has lit the lamp three times in his last three games, his first three points as a member of the Rampage.

With Dan Ellis currently in the NHL with the Florida Panthers, Michael Houser has taken control of the San Antonio crease, starting each of the last six games. Houser has been red hot recently, winning seven of his last nine starts and earning a point in eight of them. Backing up Houser has been PTO Joe Howe, a second-year pro who has been on five different ECHL teams this season but has yet to appear in an AHL contest.

Checkers Notes

Against The Rampage

Tonight marks the last of eight matchups this season between the two clubs. Including a 2-3-1-1 record this season, the Checkers hold an all-time record of 14-11-1-1 against their West Division rivals. In the three seasons that the Checkers have spent in the Western Conference, they have never lost a season series to the Rampage, winning twice and splitting once.

Trevor Carrick leads all active Charlotte skaters with four points (3g, 1a) in seven games, while Zach Boychuk has put up three points (2g, 1a) in three games this season against San Antonio. Drew MacIntyre has started six of the seven matchups, going 2-2-2 with a 0.923 save percentage and a 2.39 goals against average. In John Muse's one appearance, he took a loss, allowing four goals on 31 shots.

Bobby Butler (4g, 3a) and Rocco Grimaldi (2g, 5a) have each recorded seven points against the Checkers this season in five games for Butler and seven for Grimaldi. Michael Houser and Dan Ellis have both seen action against Charlotte this season. Houser is 3-0-1 in with a goals against average of 2.19 and a save percentage of 0.927, while Ellis is 2-1-0 with a 1.60 goals against average and a 0.936 save percentage.

Home And Road

The Checkers have been two completely different teams on the road and at home this season. At the friendly confines of Time Warner Cable Arena, the Checkers are 17-13-1-1, giving them the third highest number of home wins in the Western Conference. That record includes a 6-2 mark in their last eight contests on home ice. They also have 82 goals for at home, with a goal differential of -6.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is their road record, which currently sits at an AHL-worst 8-19-4, including a 3-7 mark over their last 10 games. Their offense has been non-existent on the road, with the team managing just 56 goals and a goal differential of -45.

Boychuk's Back

Reigning AHL goal-scoring champion Zach Boychuk has found his scoring touch of late with seven goals and 11 points in his last 14 games. Since being held off the score sheet in 10 of 13 games following his reassignment from the NHL on Jan. 8, he has scored at least one point in 10 of his last 14.

Six of Boychuk's 11 goals this season have come on the power play, tying him with Chad LaRose for the team lead in that category and making him responsible for 20 percent of the team's total (30 goals) despite playing in only 29 games. Boychuk led the AHL with 18 power-play goals last season, with that total accounting for exactly half of his team-record 36 on the campaign.

Boychuk is the Checkers' all-time leader with 113 goals and 52 power-play goals in 271 games played.

Carrick Lights It Up

Rookie defenseman Trevor Carrick has found his scoring touch of late, recording seven points (2g, 5a) in his last eight games. He currently leads all Checkers defensemen in goals (six) and points (21). His goal total is a new record for a Checkers rookie defenseman while his point total is one shy of tying Ryan Murphy's record set in 2013-14.

A fourth-round pick in 2012, the 20-year-old Carrick put up 51 points in his final season of junior last year, split between Mississauga and Sudbury, and ranked second among OHL defensemen in goals (22).

MacIntyre's Workload

Checkers goalie Drew MacIntyre ranks fourth in the AHL with 2,427 minutes played and is second with 1,208 saves. He would only need to appear in six of the team's last 13 games to tie the franchise record for games played by a goaltender in a single season (48 by Justin Pogge in 2010-11).

MacIntyre has made 40 or more saves seven times this season, including twice in his last five starts. Though he has yet to record a shutout, he has won five games by a 2-1 score. He owns a .933 save percentage in overtime games this season (42 saves on 45 shots) and has stopped 21 of 23 in the shootout. He is tied for the league lead in shootout victories this season (4-1 record).

MacIntyre, a 31-year-old veteran now playing his 12th professional season with his eighth AHL club, ranks 10th on the league's all-time wins list with 209 and is just 23 wins away from tying Frederic Cassivi for fifth. He has a 209-138-25 record, 2.46 goals-against average, .935 save percentage and 16 shutouts in 395 career AHL games dating back to the 2004-05 season.

Shugg Takes Over

Justin Shugg's game-tying goal in the third period of the Checkers' last game on March 12 was his 17th goal of the season, establishing a new career high, and giving him sole possession of team leads in goals and points (32). The third-year forward has 11 points (4g, 7a) in his last 15 outings, including one overtime-winning goal and not including one shootout-winning goal. His eight shots on goal on March 12 marked a new career high and tied the most taken by a Checker this season.

Shugg, 23, now ranks sixth on the franchise's all-time points list with 104 points (45g, 59a) in 199 games played. He needs six more to pass Jerome Samson and move into the top five.

Powering Up

The Checkers have scored a power-play goal in eight of their last 11 games dating back to Feb. 22, going 9-for-41 (21.9 percent) during that time. As a result, their power play has risen out of the league's lowest-ranked spot it had occupied since Dec. 14 and now ranks 27th in the AHL at 12.4 percent.

Saturday's game in OKC marked the fourth time the Checkers have scored multiple power-play goals in a single game this season. All four of those instances have come since Jan. 16.

Shootout Success

Charlotte's six shootout appearances and five shootout victories this season tie them for the second-most in the AHL behind Lehigh Valley (seven appearances, six wins) in both categories. Meanwhile, the Checkers are 2-5 in games decided during the seven-minute overtime period.

The Checkers have found success in the shootout by scoring seven goals on 26 attempts (.269, 14th AHL). Meanwhile, their goaltending tandem of Drew MacIntyre (21 saves on 23 attempts) and John Muse (three saves on four attempts) have given the Checkers the third-best save percentage in the league at .889 percent. In MacIntyre's only shootout loss of the season, he stopped seven of eight while receiving no goals of support.

The Checkers' top scorers in the shootout this season are rookie Brock McGinn (two goals on three attempts) and overall scoring leader Justin Shugg (two goals, both game-winners, on five attempts). McGinn ranks second among AHL rookies in shootout percentage (66.7) and Shugg is tied for the AHL lead in shootout-winning goals.

Streaks

• Phil Di Giuseppe has points in each of his last two games (1g, 1a)

Injuries

• Keegan Lowe - missed eight games starting 2/27
• Chad LaRose - missed 10 games starting 2/25
• Greg Nemisz - missed 42 games starting 12/8 (out for season)

Milestones

• Justin Shugg is one shy of 200 AHL games
• Sean Dolan is one shy of 150 AHL games
• Brendan Woods is one shy of 100 AHL games
• Brody Sutter is one shy of 50 AHL points
• Jared Staal is three shy of 50 pro points and one shy of 100 AHL PIM
• Kyle Hagel is six shy of 1,000 pro PIM
• Mike Cornell is seven shy of 200 AHL PIM
• Zach Boychuk is one shy of 200 AHL PIM
• Danny Biega is one shy of 100 AHL/pro PIM

Transactions

Incoming

• None

Outgoing

• March 11 - (LW) Gabriel Desjardins released from professional tryout contract