Game Preview: Checkers at Texas (Feb. 22, 2014)

The Checkers hope to rebound against the Stars once again as they play the second of back-to-back games in Texas tonight.

Tonight marks the sixth in the eight-game series between the West Division clubs, with the teams alternating wins and losses ever since the Stars won the initial match-up in Charlotte on Jan. 2. In each prior case, the Stars won one night with the Checkers answering back the next, a process that has given Texas a 3-2-0 lead in the season series thus far.

Saturday’s game concludes the first leg of Charlotte’s franchise-record, 10-game road swing. They will return to Charlotte early next week only to depart again for a four-game trip through Norfolk and Hershey. The third leg of their trip contains two more games in Texas on March 8 and 12.

Charlotte

As was the case in their previous game against a top West Division team, a 5-4 overtime victory over the Abbotsford Heat in Raleigh last weekend, the Checkers found themselves down three goals at the first intermission against Texas on Friday. Unlike the game against the Heat, the Checkers weren’t able to pull off the big comeback.

Charlotte had its chances after Chris Terry got the visitors on the board with a goal, his fourth in three games since ending a 13-game drought that tied his career long, just 26 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1. Despite staring that period with an 11-3 shots advantage against the Stars, the Checkers couldn’t get any other chances to fall as it was too little, too late against a team that took advantage of its own chances in period one.

The result ended the Checkers’ brief winning streak at two games, dropping them back below the .500 mark they’ve been straddling for the last month.

Mike Murphy made 27 saves in what could be the last start by either he or John Muse, who is out this weekend due to injury, for the next few weeks. Justin Peters, who rejoined the Checkers on a conditioning stint from Carolina on Thursday, is expected to start tonight now that he has two practices under his belt following the NHL’s Olympic break.

Peters, a two-time AHL All-Star who set Checkers’ single-season records (20 or more games played) with a 2.29 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and six shutouts last season, has not played since his last NHL start against the Tampa Bay Lightning over two months ago (Jan. 19). He has not played in the AHL since opening night, when he made 32 saves to defeat the Oklahoma City Barons on Oct. 4.

The Checkers will hope that the presence of Peters helps them correct a tough stretch of defensive hockey that has seen them allow three or more goals in each of their last nine games for an average of 4.67 per outing. He’ll have to do so against the Western Conference’s top offensive team, which scored four times on Friday to raise its average to 3.63 for the season.

An injury will keep Greg Nemisz out for the sixth consecutive game tonight. Forward Matt Marquardt and defenseman Keegan Lowe are available after sitting out Friday’s game as healthy extras.

Texas

Despite the four-goal performance that included its characteristic burst in the first period (three goals in six minutes), it was a relatively quiet night for the Stars’ big guns in Travis Morin, Colton Sceviour, Curtis McKenzie and Chris Mueller, who make up four of the AHL’s top seven scorers, on Friday.

McKenzie, the AHL’s highest-scoring rookie, scored the Stars’ second goal on an assist from Sceviour, whose shot missed the net, went off the end boards, off Murphy’s back and into the open crease for the tap-in, but that was the only scoring for the big group. The Checkers even got away with perhaps the most ill-advised two-on-none break in the league when Murphy made a save on Morin during a Checkers’ defensive-zone turnover during a second-period power play and Sceviour, the AHL’s top goal scorer, couldn’t corral the rebound.

As the Checkers found out on Friday, those four aren’t the only Stars players who can score. Another first-year standout in Brett Ritchie, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound winger who potted 41 goals during his final year of junior hockey last season, scored two goals and hit a post in the first period to lead the Stars’ early onslaught. Veteran Mike Hedden, who rounds out the Stars’ top six scores, put the final nail in the coffin with a breakaway, power-play goal that made it 4-1 late.

Goalie Cristopher Nilstorp, who stopped 36 of 37 shots on Friday, has started seven of the Stars’ last nine games dating back to Feb. 1. He has allowed two or fewer goals in each of his last five starts, while backup Josh Robinson, who has split the season between Texas and ECHL Idaho, has allowed four or more in each of his last five dating back to Jan. 24.

Checkers Notes

On the Road Again

The Checkers' 10-game road swing that began with a loss in Texas on Feb. 21 is the longest in the team's four AHL seasons, narrowly eclipsing a pair of nine-game segments from Oct. 28-Nov. 13, 2011 (5-4-0) and from Oct. 13-31, 2012 (6-2-1).

Charlotte, whose 21 road games to date are the fewest of any AHL team, is 10-10-1 on the road this season.

Against Texas

The Checkers have an all-time record of 5-5-1 against Texas over the last three seasons, including a 2-3-0 record to start the current eight-game series. Tonight marks the second of four visits to Texas' Cedar Park Center, where the Checkers have an all-time record of 2-3-2. The season series concludes with tonight's game and two more in Texas' building on March 8 and 12.

We Meet Again

Since the calendar turned to 2014, the Checkers have played nine back-to-back sets against the same opponent, inclding the current match-up against Texas. Charlotte is 2-7-0 in the first half of those sets and 6-1-1 in the second.

One Cold Minute

The Checkers have given up two goals within 60 seconds or less on 10 separate occasions since Dec. 15. They have done so four times in nine February games, including their last game on Feb. 21 when they allowed the Stars two score twice in 26 seconds.

On four of the 10 occasions in which the Checkers have given up two goals in a minute or less, the second goal held up as the game winner.

Murphy's Helping Hand

Since joining the Checkers from the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24, Ryan Murphy has 11 points, all assists, in 11 games with Charlotte. That gives him the second-most assists by a Checkers defensman all season, just one away from the team lead held by Mark Flood. Murphy has assists and points in each of his last six games (7a), tying him for the longest active streak by an AHL defenseman and giving him the longest point streak by a Checkers blueliner this season.

Murphy, the Hurricanes' first-round pick (12th overall) in 2011, now has 15 assists in 19 career AHL games dating back to last season, including five Calder Cup Playoff games. Ten of those assists came on the power play.

The Big Three

Along with Texas, the Checkers are one of two teams to feature three or more players among the AHL's top 20 scorers. Zach Boychuk and Chris Terry are tied for the team scoring lead and for 12th in the AHL with 45 points apiece, while Aaron Palushaj is tied for 14th with 44 points.

All three players have held sole possesion of the Checkers' scoring lead at one point this season and are on pace for their best scoring seasons at the AHL level. At their current pace, Terry and Boychuk would break Boychuk's team record of 65 points set in the 2010-11 season with 70, while Palushaj would tie that mark.

Terry Takes Charge

Since ending a 13-game goal drought that tied the longest of his career with two goals against Abbotsford on Feb. 16, Chris Terry scored in each of his two subsequent games to give him four in his last three outings. He has seven points (4g, 3a) during an active four-game point streak that marks the longest on the team.

Terry and Zach Boychuk are the Checkers' top scorers during the month of February, with each player scoring 12 points in nine games.

Boychuk Burst

Checkers forward Zach Boychuk has eight goals in his last 11 games, including the second and third hat tricks of his career on Jan. 24 and Feb. 1. He leads the Checkers and is tied for fourth in the AHL with 23 goals, which ties his career high set last season. He has hit the 20-goal mark in the AHL in each of his four seasons with the Checkers.

Boychuk's 13 power-play goals lead the AHL and are a new record for the most scored by a Checkers player in a single season.

Defensive Lapses

The Checkers have allowed three or more goals in each of their last nine games dating back to Feb. 1. During that time, in which they have a 3-5-1 record, the Checkers have allowed a total of 42 goals for an average of 4.67 per game and have seen their goals-against average for the season rise from 3.00 (20th AHL) to 3.29 (28th AHL).

Floodgates Open

Mark Flood scored his 11th goal of the campaign against Oklahoma City on Feb. 7 to set a new team record for most goals by a defenseman in a single season. Flood, who needed just 46 games to accomplish the feat, topped the old mark of 10 set by Bobby Sanguinetti in the 2011-12 season and tied his own career high set with Manitoba in 2010-11.

Flood, a 29-year-old veteran who scored just one goal in 52 games in the Russian KHL last season, ranks second in terms of goals by AHL defensemen and is tied for fourth among league blueliners with six power-play goals.

Quick Hits

• The Checkers went 0-for-3 on the man advantage against Texas on Feb. 21, ending a four-game streak with at least one power-play goal (5-for-14: 35.7 percent).
• Though the Checkers have been shut out just once this season, they have scored just one goal on 12 separate occasions.
• The Checkers are 11-8-1 against fellow West Division opponents this season.
• Charlotte's two shorthanded goals are tied with Adirondack for the fewest in the league

Player Streaks

• Ryan Murphy has assists and points in each of his last six games (Feb. 7-Feb. 21: 0g, 7a)
• Chris Terry has points in each of his last four games (Feb. 15-21: 4g, 3a) and goals in each of his last three (Feb. 16-21: 4g, 2a)

Milestones

• Michal Jordan is two shy of 250 professional games
• Brett Sutter is four shy of 500 professional games
• Matt Corrente is four shy of 250 professional games
• Justin Shugg is five shy of 100 professoinal points
• Chris Terry played his 350th career AHL game on Feb. 21

Injuries

• Greg Nemisz - missed five games starting Feb. 9
• John Muse - missed one game starting Feb. 21

Transactions

Incoming

• Feb. 19 - (G) Justin Peters assigned to Charlotte on conditioning stint from Carolina (NHL)

Outgoing

• None