Game Preview: Checkers at Texas (March 8, 2014)

The Checkers hope to continue one of their longest winning streaks of the season as they continue a three-in-three set in Texas tonight.

Charlotte’s wild 5-4 win over the San Antonio Rampage on Friday marked the fourth consecutive victory in its team-record, 10-game road swing (4-2-1) – one that continues with a rematch against San Antonio on Sunday and the final meeting of the season against Texas on Wednesday. A win tonight would mark the Checkers’ longest winning streak of the season as they attempt to make up a five-point gap in the playoff race with 19 games to play.

Charlotte is 2-3-1 against the division-leading Stars this season, including an 0-1-1 record to begin its marathon run of road games two weeks ago.

Charlotte

The only problem with Friday’s win in San Antonio is that it had the potential to be exhausting. A back-and-forth game that saw the Checkers take a 1-0 lead in the first period, trail 3-1 in the second and then 4-3 in the third went all the way to the shootout, where John Muse stopped four of five on the heels of a 35-save effort in his first game since suffering an injury on Feb. 18. That could be significant with the Stars off that night to prepare for tonight’s game, but the Checkers will hope the momentum that comes with another resurrection of their playoff hopes will allow them to power through.

While the big three of Aaron Palushaj (1g, 1a), Zach Boychuk (2a) and Chris Terry (1a) continued to cement their places among the AHL’s top 20 scorers with another productive game on Friday, the Checkers have also had something of an unlikely hero emerge in the form of Sean Dolan. The team’s checking center for the last three seasons who only recently returned from two months away due to injury seems to have found a home on a scoring line with Boychuk and Palushaj, having totaled six points (3g, 3a) in his last three game.

Dolan’s surge includes the game-winning goal with 46 seconds left against Norfolk on Tuesday and his first two-goal and three-point game at the AHL level on Friday. He also had five shots on goal and a plus-3 rating against the Rampage, both of which were career highs, and now has a career-best 12 points on the season.

“He’s been a good fit there right now,” said coach Jeff Daniels of Dolan’s placement on that line earlier this week. “He’s using one of his best assets, which is his skating and his speed. Chucky likes to play fast, Palushaj likes to skate and he can play that speed game. He’s got a lot of confidence right now with the puck and making plays.”

“It’s nice to get on the score sheet but I know I still need to play my game and be responsible in both ends,” said Dolan.

With Muse getting the first of the three-in-three set on Friday, Mike Murphy is likely to face the Stars tonight. It would be his first game played since the Checkers’ last game in Texas on Feb. 21, with Justin Peters taking over on his NHL conditioning stint the next night. Murphy stopped 27 of 31 shots in that game, with three of those goals allowed in the first period.

Matt Corrente is set to return from a one-game suspension served Friday, which could bump Austin Levi out of the lineup. Levi, a first-year-pro recalled from ECHL Florida one day earlier, played his first AHL game since Jan. 3 against the Rampage.

Texas

The Stars have been off three full days since defeating the Heat, their main rival for the West Division lead all season, on back-to-back days in Abbotsford. Those victories, part of a six-game point streak (5-0-1) that started with the two victories against the Checkers two weeks ago, helped the Stars temporarily take the top spot in the Western Conference until Grand Rapids snatched it away on Friday.

The Checkers are by now well-acquainted with the Stars’ offense that ranks first in the conference (second overall) with 3.59 goals per game. The only team that comes close to matching their high-end forwards, four of whom (Travis Morin, Colton Sceviour, Curtis McKenzie and Chris Mueller) rank among the league’s top 10 scorers, is Charlotte with three of the top 14 in Boychuk, Terry and Palushaj. The teams also have the league’s top two power plays.

Morin’s 73 points in 54 games this season are at least six more than any other player. Sceviour leads the league with 31 goals, McKenzie is the AHL’s top rookie scorer with 54 points and Mueller is tied for Boychuk for the most power-play goals (14). All four are at or above a point-per-game pace against the Checkers this season, as are Mike Hedden, the fifth Stars player with 20 goals, and Brett Ritchie, who scored two goals against them on Feb. 21. Morin and McKenzie each have 10 points in six match-ups.

If that wasn’t enough, Dustin Jeffrey, a former AHL All-Star who had quiet start with Texas, has shown signs of joining the party of late with three points (2g, 1a) in his last two games.

Goalie Cristopher Nilstorp has played 39 games this season, including 11 of the Stars’ last 14 and five of six against the Checkers (4-1-0 record, 2.50 goals-against average and .926 save percentage). However, he could enter more of a rotation moving forward, with 2010 first-round draft pick Jack Campbell returning from injury to play his first game since Dec. 18 on Tuesday (23 saves on 24 shots).

Checkers Notes

Against Texas

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

Philippe Cornet leads the Checkers with six points (3g, 3a) in six games against the Stars this season. Greg Nemisz (1g, 4a in five games) and Justin Shugg (1g, 4a in six games) are tied for second with five points apiece.

The Checkers are killing penalties at just a 60 percent rate (15-for-25) against the Stars, who have the league's No. 1 power play at 27.8 percent.

Winning Streak

The Checkers have won each of their last four games, tying their longest streak of the season. Charlotte previously won four on a row on Dec. 10-19 and again on Jan. 18-28. It is the third-longest active streak in the AHL behind Grand Rapids and St. John's, who have each won seven straight. The Checkers have not won five in a row since they set a franchise record with six consecutive wins from Jan. 4-16 of last season.

All four wins on the Checkers' current trip have come on the road, making it the team's longest road winning streak since Jan. 4-13 of last season.

Dolan Steps Up

Checkers center Sean Dolan set career highs with two goals, three points, five shots on goal and a plus-3 rating against the San Antonio Rampage on March 7. He now has six points in his last three games (3g, 3a), marking the most productive stretch of his three AHL seasons.

Dolan, a 26-year-old who has signed three consecutive AHL contracts with Charlotte since intially joining the team on a tryout contract in January of 2012, has toppped his career high for points in a single season with 12 (4g, 8a) in 31 games. He has eight points in 11 games, including two game-winning goals, since missing 21 games due to injury.

Shootout Stars

The Checkers scored twice on four shootout attemps in San Antonio on March 7, giving them a .450 shooting percentage (9-for-20) that ranks second in the AHL. Chris Terry and Aaron Palushaj lead the Checkers with three goals each on four attempts, while Brody Sutter ranks third with goals on both of his attempts both this season and in his AHL career. The only other Checker to score on a shootout attempt this season is Matthew Pistilli, who scored on his one attempt before the Checkers released him from his PTO.

The Checkers are 2-2 in shootouts this season, with their four attempts ranking as the fewest in the AHL.

The Big Three

Along with Texas (four), the Checkers are one of two teams to feature three or more players among the AHL's top 20 scorers. Zach Boychuk leads the Checkers and is tied for ninth in the AHL with 52 points, Chris Terry ranks 12th in the league with 51 and Aaron Palushaj is tied for 13th with 50.

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, all three would break Boychuk's team record of 65 points set in the 2010-11 season, with Boychuk on pace for 71, Terry on pace for 70 and Palushaj on pace for 66.

Hats off to Boychuk

With three third-period goals on March 2, Zach Boychuk recorded his third hat trick of the season and fourth of his career. Three of those hat tricks have come since Jan. 24, while his previous hat trick came almost exactly three years earlier on Jan. 23, 2011. He is responsible for four of six hat tricks in the Checkers' AHL history (Jacob Mikflikier, Brett Sutter).

Boychuk, who set a new career high with his 24th goal of the season on March 1, now ranks fourth in the AHL with 27. He is tied for the league lead with a franchise-record 14 power-play goals.

Now in his fifth professional season, Boychuk is on pace for 37 goals, which would break Chris Terry's team record of 34 set in the 2010-11 season. Terry and Boychuk rank first and second on the Checkers' all-time goals list with 95 and 93, respectively.

Power Players

The Checkers currently rank second in the AHL with a 22.2 percent success rate on the power play. Charlotte has at least one power-play goal in eight of its last 11 games dating back to Feb. 9 (11-for-43: 25.6 percent).

In Zach Boychuk (t-1st with 14) and Chris Terry (t-8th with 10), the Checkers have two of the AHL's top 10 in terms of power-play goals this season. Boychuk has already broken the single-season franchise record of 12 previously set by Jacob Micflikier in the 2010-11 campaign. Meanwhile, Mark Flood's seven power-play goals are tied for second among AHL defensemen and are tied for the most by a Checkers blueliner in a single season (Bobby Sanguinetti in 2011-12).

On the Road Again

The Checkers' current 10-game road swing (4-2-1) 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 is 14-11-2 on the road this season.

Three-in-Threes

The Checkers are in the midst of playing three games in three nights for the fourth time this season, a stretch that began with a 5-4 shootout win in San Antonio on Friday. Following this set, they will have just one three-in-three set remaining on April 4-6.

The team is 6-3-1 in games that are part of a three-in-three this season, including a 3-1-0 record in game one, a 1-1-1 record in game two and a 2-1-0 record in game three. All-time, the Checkers are 16-8-3 in game one, 16-5-5 in game two and 13-12-1 in game three over the course of their four AHL seasons.

Quick Hits

• The Checkers have earned points in seven of their last nine games (6-2-1).
• Mark Flood ranks second among AHL defensemen with 12 goals. That mark sets a career high and is the most by a Charlotte defenseman in a single season.
• Matt Corrente is tied for third among AHL defensemen with 10 major penalties. On Feb. 26, he became the first Checkers defenseman to top 100 penalty minutes in a season since Zack FitzGerald (229) in 2010-11.
• The Checkers' eight overtime games (5-3) and are tied for the fewest in the league. Their four shootouts (2-2) are the fewest in the league.
• The Checkers are 12-8-2 against West Division opponents this season.
• Charlotte's two shorthanded goals are tied with Adirondack for the fewest in the league

Player Streaks

• Chris Terry has points in each of his last five games (Feb. 26-March 7: 2g, 4a)
• Zach Boychuk has points in each of his last four games (March 1-7: 4g, 3a)
• Michal Jordan has assists and points in each of his last four games (March 1-7: 0g, 4a)
• Aaron Palushaj has assists and points in each of his last three games (March 2-7: 1g, 5a)
• Sean Dolan has points in each of his last three games (March 2-7: 3g, 3a)

Milestones

• Brett Sutter is two shy of 450 AHL games
• Michal Jordan is two shy of 250 AHL games
• Justin Shugg is three shy of 100 professional points
• Aaron Palushaj is three shy of 250 AHL games
• Aaron Palushaj recorded his 200th professional point on March 7
• Sean Dolan recorded his 50th professional point on March 4
• Nicolas Blanchard played his 450th AHL game on March 4
• Jared Staal played his 150th AHL game on March 4
• Matt Corrente played his 250th professional game on March 4

Injuries

• Brendan Woods - missed six games starting Feb. 22