Game Preview: Checkers vs Iowa (Feb. 17, 2015)

The Checkers have rebounded from their worst stretch of the season to take two of their last three games and are looking to keep things rolling against the struggling Iowa Wild.

After snapping a four-game losing streak by splitting a series in Lake Erie, the Checkers found the win column once again earlier this week with a shootout victory over their geographic neighbors, the Norfolk Admirals. Charlotte will now continue its search for back-to-back wins, a feat that they have only been able to accomplish once this season.

Tonight's tilt is the first of back-to-back contests with their West Division rivals. The Checkers will then hit the road for a four-game trek.

Charlotte

After a tough four-game losing streak that saw the team's frustration reach a season high and forced head coach Jeff Daniels to make message-sending adjustments to the lineup, the Checkers have started to trend in the right direction. They were one penalty shot away from sweeping the Monsters in Lake Erie last week, and then kicked off a tough weekday slate with a big shootout victory over Norfolk on Monday afternoon.

Monday's tilt saw the Checkers turn in one of the most prolific first halfs of a game that they have played this season, running out to a 3-0 lead in the middle frame. That lead was powered by three players whose performances will be crucial to the team's ongoing success. Brock McGinn opened up the scoring with his first goal in 29 games. The bruising rookie has established himself with a physical style of play this season, but hasn't been able to score as consistently as he showed he could do in junior.

Alex Aleardi notched the next goal for the Checkers to keep his hot streak alive. The second-year forward enters tonight's contest on a three-game goal streak and has put up 10 poitns in the 13 games since he was recalled from the ECHL. Aleardi possess killer speed that allows him to create chances on the ice not just for himself, but for his linemates. The dynamic winger has brought a much-needed spark to the Checkers' offense and will look to continue that against a reeling Iowa defense.

The third goal was a power-play strike from the franchise's all-time leading goal scorer Zach Boychuk. Since being returned to Charlotte after an extended stay in the NHL, Boychuk has had a hard time getting things going for the Checkers, culminating in Daniels decision to make the winger a healthy scratch against Chicago on Feb. 7. The move sent a message to the player and the team, and both have shown improvement since. Boychuk's goal, his first in six games, will hopefully kickstart the forward as the Checkers will need his production in order to right the ship.

In net, Drew MacIntyre continues to be the man for Charlotte, but has found himself on the losing end of his last five starts. While he certainly didn't recieve much help from his team in terms of offense, MacIntyre has allowed at least three goals in all five of those contests. On the other side, John Muse has seen some of his best results as of late. Muse has won each of his last two starts and three of his last four, including an impressive 39-save victory on the road against Lake Erie. With this week's games coming back-to-back, there is a chance that each goalie could get a shot, though Daniels has stuck with one netminder on a handful of the Checkers' bak-to-back occasions this season.

Iowa

The Wild come to Charlotte mired in a brutal slump that has seen them drop five-straight games and 11 of their last 13. The skid has kept Iowa trapped at the bottom of both the Western Conference and the AHL.

Their last contest came against the Oklahoma City Barons in a game that looked like it would snap the streak. After trading goals for much of the game, former Charlotte captain Brett Sutter gave the Wild a 3-2 lead midway through the second. The Barons bounced back, however, racking up three unanswered strikes to roll to a 5-3 win. Iowa’s current five-game losing skid is tied for the longest active such streak in the AHL.

Iowa has had problems all across the board this season. Their offense has been slightly better than the Checkers' in terms of goals per game, but the Wild still find themselves ranked in the bottom three of the AHL. That attack has been led by a pair of 30-point scorers in Michael Keranen and Tyler Graovac. They have also enjoyed the help of some secondary scoring, as Iowa boasts five players with at least 20 points, comapred to jsut two on the Checkers.

The Wild have not fared any better on the other side of the ice, ranking similarly in the bottom three in the AHL in goals allowed per game. Their blue line, anchored by the likes of Jonathon Blum and Danny Syvret, will look to get a boost with the recent addition of rookie Christian Folin. Folin, who has spent the majority of his season in the NHL with Minnesota, will aim to fill the hole left by AHL All-Star Matt Dumba, who is currently with Minnesota.

Iowa's goalie situation has been a revolving door, as the Wild have used six goalies this season, tied for the most in the AHL so far. The tandem of John Curry and Johan Gustafsson have carried the majority of the load, splitting the starts fairly evenly between themselves. Both netminders have struggled, with Curry, who has started three of the last four games, on a six-game losing streak and Gustafsson on four-game losing streak.

Checkers Notes

Against Iowa

Tonight is the fifth of eight regular-season games between Charlotte and Iowa, with the two squads splitting the previous four. Including this season's 2-2-0-0, Charlotte has a record of 4-4-0-0 (8 pts.) against Iowa, with a 1-3-0-0 (2 pts.) record at home.

Chad LaRose, Carter Sandlak, Brendan Woods and Phil Di Giuseppe all lead the Checkers with three points in four games this season agaisnt Iowa. Drew MacIntyre has started three games, going 2-1-0 with a 2.02 goals-against average and .927 save percentage, while John Muse is 0-1-1 with a 3.07 GAA and .893 SV%.

Tyler Graovac has torched Charlotte for Iowa this season, with five points in four games. John Curry has gone 1-1-0-0 in his three starts this season, with a goals against average of 3.46 and a save percentage of 0.855. Johan Gustafsson has seen the Checkers jsut once this season, allowing just one goal in a winning effort.

Welcome Back Alex

Since returning from the ECHL's Florida Everblades on Jan. 4, forward Alex Aleardi has posted ten points (6g, 4a) in 13 games, including four in his last three (3g, 1a), and is on a three-game goal streak. Even though Aleardi did not dress for four games since that recall, he is tied for the Checkers scoring lead during that time with Chad LaRose (17 games).

Aleardi, an undrafted forward who the Checkers signed to an AHL contract during the offseason, has 33 points (16g, 17a) in 70 career AHL contests with Springfield and Charlotte. He scored 19 points (8g, 11a) in 16 ECHL games with the Everblades this season.

We Meet Again

This past week's series against Lake Erie marked the 19th time the Checkers have faced the same opponent in two consecutive games this season. They are a combined 4-11-4 in the first halves of those series and 10-8-1 in the second.

In those two-game series, the Checkers have won both games once (against Milwaukee on Nov. 29 and 30) and have suffered four sweeps (vs. Grand Rapids on Oct. 17-18, at San Antonio on Nov. 14-15, at Oklahoma City on Nov. 21-22 and vs. Chicago on Feb. 6-7).

MacIntyre's Workload

Checkers goalie Drew MacIntyre, who has started six of the Checkers' last eight games, ranks sixth in the AHL in minutes played (1,935) and third in saves (940). With 34 games played, he would only have to appear in 14 of the Checkers' last 26 to tie the single-season club record set by Justin Pogge in the inaugural 2010-11 campaign.

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 205 and is just 27 wins away from tying Frederic Cassivi for fifth. He has a 205-134-25 record, 2.45 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and 16 shutouts in 387 career AHL games dating back to the 2004-05 season.

LaRose Takes Over

During a current stretch that has seen him score 16 points (10g, 6a) in his last 23 games, Chad LaRose has taken sole possession of both the team's scoring and goals lead with 27 points (14g, 13a). In addition to being the team's overall points leader, he also leads the team in power-play points (eight), shorthanded points (three - t-4th AHL) and shots on goal (131).

LaRose's six-game point streak from Jan. 15-30 marked the Checkers' longest of the season, eclipsing his own previous five-game run and another by Murphy, both of which occurred in December. It also tied the longest of his professional career set during his previous AHL season (4g, 7a for Lowell between Nov. 18-26, 2005).

LaRose, a 32-year-old veteran of 508 NHL games with Carolina, is playing in the AHL for the first time since 2005-06 after taking last season away from hockey. He now has 111 points (55g, 56a) in 176 career AHL games with Lowell and Charlotte.

Lack Of Firepower

After totaling just 11 goals in regulation in their last seven games, the Checkers have fallen back to the AHL cellar in terms of total goals (107) and goals per game (2.14). The Checkers, who have scored two goals or less in six of their last seven games dating back to Jan. 30, are the only team in the AHL with two or fewer 20-point scorers on their roster (Chad LaRose and Justin Shugg). LaRose's 27 points are tied for the second-lowest for a team leader in the AHL.

The Checkers also rank last in the league on the power play with a season-long percentage of 10.7. The lowest recorded power-play percentage for a season in AHL history is 10.4, set by the Rochester Americans in 2001-02.

Streaks

• Alex Aleardi has goals and points in each of his last three games (Feb. 10-12: 2g, 1a)

Injuries

• Gabriel Desjardins - missed 17 game starting 1/4
• Greg Nemisz - missed 29 games starting 12/8 (out for season)

Milestones

• Zach Boychuk is one shy of 150 AHL assists
• Jared Staal is three shy of 50 pro points and six shy of 100 pro penalty minutes
• Justin Shugg is four shy of 100 pro penalty minutes

Transactions

Incoming

• None

Outgoing

• Feb. 13 - (D) Michal Jordan recalled to Carolina (NHL) from Charlotte
• Feb. 13 - (C) Jason Bast released from PTO to Idaho (ECHL)