QUICK HITS
KEEP ON ROLLING
Since suffering a five-game losing streak in early December, the Checkers have bounced back in a big way. They have won six of their last seven contests - a hot run that has catapulted them into third place in the highly competitive Atlantic Division.On the other side, Hartford enters tonight’s contest on a four-game winless streak that has it currently sitting in the Atlantic Division cellar.
FAMILIAR FOES
This week’s series marks the sixth and seventh time that the Checkers and Wolf Pack have squared off this season. The two sides got very familiar early on this season, playing five times in the first month’s worth of games. The Checkers have had the upper hand thus far, earning at least a point in every contest for a 4-0-1-0 record.In 33 matchups between the two franchises, the Checkers hold an all-time record of 26-4-2-1 against the Wolf Pack and have never lost in regulation on home ice - boasting a 16-0-1-0 record in those contests.
LOCKING IT DOWN
The Checkers have surrendered two or fewer goals in six of their last seven contests – all of which have been wins. Mack Guzda has won each of his last three starts while allowing no more than two goals in any outing, while Alex Lyon has made at least 23 saves in three straight starts.KILLING IT
The Checkers have gone perfect on the PK in two straight games heading into Tuesday and have killed 42 of their last 44 penalties over the past nine contests.They’ll look to keep that hot streak going against a Wolf Pack power play that ranks last in the league with a 12.5 percent success rate.
ON A HEATER
Since their respective NHL stints, the pair of Aleksi Heponiemi and Grigori Denisenko have been piling up the points - with the former entering tonight with eight points in his last seven games and the latter holding 12 in his last 11 games. In fact, three of Charlotte’s last five games have seen one of those skaters put up a three-point effort.QUOTES
Checkers Head Coach Geordie Kinnear on his team bouncing back with this hot streak"Nothing changes for us whether we win or lose. We just want to keep getting better. A lot of the guys have put a lot of extra work in after practice, before practice and they’re seeing the rewards of that. Our mindset doesn’t change."
Checkers defenseman Johnny Ludvig on the team's hot streak
"I think we’re just learning as the season goes on to play a full 60 minutes. Geordie always preaches playing winning hockey every night. At the start of the year we were trying to focus on that but now we’re actually buying into it and starting to see full 60 minutes from our team."
Kinnear on finding consistent pairings on the blue line
"It’s obviously important. I played the position for a long period of time, you have to think as one with your partner. When it changes a lot, it takes a little bit of time. Now the guys understand how we want to play and they’ve bought into that and they’ve worked with each other. The chemistry has gotten better and it’s starting to gel back there."
Kinnear on Charlotte's stingy defensive play
"I really enjoy not giving up a lot of goals, it’s one of my things. In the end you have to be a really good defending team. That’s not just playing defense, that’s having the puck in the right spots and being committed as a group of six. We’ve done that and we want to continue to do that. But it’s not a one-person effort. It’s a commitment from the whole group to be a really good defending team."
Ludvig on Charlotte's stingy defensive play
"Our goalies have been playing amazing - they have been all season, but I think we’ve just been focusing on our own end a lot more and not giving guys a lot of space and it’s been working out for us."
Kinnear on the recent play of Grigori Denisenko, Aleksi Heponiemi and Riley Nash
"Deni has built it over time. At the start of the year he was coming off an injury and had to put the work in and then once he started feeling it and playing the right way he got rewarded. He got a call up and he’s gained some more confidence, and he did that through hard work. Now he’s playing the right way and scoring some big goals. Hepo has been Mr. Consistent from last year to this year. Whether he’s scoring or not, he’s such an effective player for us. He does things right all the time. And Nasher is who he is, I can play him in all situations and I know what I’m getting out of him every single game. He contributes on the offensive end, but what he does away from the puck is obviously elite - he’s been in the NHL for a long time. He’s a 200-foot production player."
Ludvig on facing Hartford
"They’re a big team, they play physical and they’re also skilled. So we have to be ready for that and focus on getting better every single game. We’re on a roll now so we want to keep that going."
COMING IN
CLT: 4-1-0-0 in last five gamesHFD: 1-1-1-2 in last five games
WHO TO WATCH
CLT
Aleksi Heponiemi - 8 points in last 7 gamesSanttu Kinnunen - 6 points in last 7 games
Grigori Denisenko - 12 points in last 11 games
HFD
Ryan Carpenter - 11 points in last 9 gamesTurner Elson - 10 points in last 11 games
Brandon Scanlin - 3 points in last 4 games
SEE YOU THERE!
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TUNE IN
Tonight's game starts at 7 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!
