QUICK HITS
HOT AND COLD
The Checkers have been alternating hot and cold spells since early December. Starting with a five-game losing streak, they immediately followed that up with a four-game winning streak around the holidays, and have now gone 3-3-0-1 over the last seven contests.Even so, the Checkers are 6-3-0-1 in their last 10 games. They’ll look to keep that upward trajectory going against a Cleveland club that sits in the cellar of the North Division and is 2-6-2-0 over the last 10 contests.
IN THE CREASE
This marks the first time this season that neither Alex Lyon nor Mack Guzda have been on the Charlotte roster. The tandem heading into the weekend stands as J-F Berube and the recently returned from injury Spencer Knight. After making two appearances during the first three months of the season, Berube has a .925 save percentage in two starts during the month of January, while Spencer Knight has been sidelined since early January. The young netminder has not appeared for the Checkers this season, but registered two shutouts in 11 games last season.KILLING IT
Over the last three games the Checkers have successfully killed 14 of their last 15 penalties. That surge has pushed them into the top five in the AHL rankings, where they hold a 84.7 success rate.They’ll go head to head against a standout Monsters power play that ranks as one of the league’s top units.
HOME COOKING
The Checkers took three of a possible four points in last weekend’s series against the Penguins, moving them to 11-7-1-1 record on home ice this season. That gives them the second-highest point total at home in the Eastern Conference.QUOTES
Checkers Head Coach Geordie Kinnear balancing rest with practice this week"The rest is important. We came off a real tough stretch but I was proud of the guys, we had hard work days. Took the day off [Thursday] and got some rest for the guys, they had the ownership to make themselves better - whatever they needed to do to do that. Today we got back at it and worked on some things. We just keep building."
Kinnear on facing the Monsters
"Cleveland is obviously a real good hockey team, very skilled group, so we have to be ready. I focus on our team and what we have to do."
Kinnear on Justin Sourdif and Logan Hutsko's injury statuses
"They were out of their yellow jerseys so I’m excited that that happened today and they’ll be ready for tomorrow."
COMING IN
CLT: 2-2-0-1 in last five gamesCLE: 1-2-2-0 in last five games
WHO TO WATCH
CLT
Henry Bowlby - 4 points in last 7 gamesGerry Mayhew - 2 points in last 3 games
Aleksi Heponiemi - 5 points in last 5 games
CLE
Cole Fonstad - 8 points in last 11 gamesTrey Fix-Wolansky - 6 points in last 5 games
David Jiricek - 10 points in last 9 games
SEE YOU THERE!
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TUNE IN
Tonight's game starts at 4 p.m. If you can't be at the Coliseum, you can tune in to the broadcast with a subscription to the league’s streaming platform AHLTVThe radio broadcast will be available via the Checkers app on iPhone or Android.
Additionally, our friends over at Ed's Tavern on 2200 Park Road are going to be showing the game on their TVs!
