Game Preview: Checkers vs Lehigh Valley (Apr. 3, 2018)

The Checkers are back out on the road for a pair of contests in their second-to-last trip of the regular season.

1. PLAYOFF PICTURE

The Checkers came away with three out of a possible four points over the weekend, helping them solidify their place in the Atlantic Division standings. Bridgeport, the team chasing Charlotte, split their two-game set over the weekend to fall eight points behind the Checkers, though the Sound Tigers have one fewer game played than Charlotte.

With a 7-2-1-0 mark in their last 10 games, the hard-charging Checkers have their eyes on the spots ahead of them in the standings. The third-place Bruins sit just three points ahead, with the second-place Penguins only one-point ahead of that, though both clubs have one game in hand over the Checkers.

All four teams are in action four times this week. The Sound Tigers, who the AHL has pegged for the hardest remaining strength of schedule of the group, hosts Providence twice and has a home-and-home series with the Penguins, while the Checkers welcome Lehigh Valley and Hershey to Bojangles’ Coliseum for a two-game set each. The Bruins have two road games in Bridgeport to go along with home contests against Lehigh Valley and Hartford, while the Penguins host Hershey and Binghamton to go along with their tilts against Bridgeport.

2. ON A ROLL

The Checkers head into their final home stand of the regular season after racking up seven of a possible eight points over the last two weekends on the road. Most recently, the Checkers snagged one point from an overtime loss in Rochester before handling the Crunch the next night.

“I thought we played really good to start the Rochester game and then made way too many kid mistakes,” said head coach Mike Vellucci.

“Turned the puck over way too much in the third period. Didn’t bear down to get the two points. We did get the one point out of it, but I was a little disappointed with that effort. Second game I thought we played one of our best games of the year, even short-staffed with a lot of guys out. Some new forwards came in, Zack Stortini, Mike Ferrantino, everyone had a really good game. Jeremy Smith was outstanding in net.”

The Checkers are back on track on the road, having picked up at least a point in each of their last six way games, and will now shift their focus back to home ice, where they have been better as a whole this season. Still, despite a 22-11-0-1 record at Bojangles’ Coliseum this season, the Checkers have split three of their last two-game series on home ice.

3. MISSING PIECES

The Checkers could be without several key parts of their roster for their tilts against Lehigh Valley this week.

Starting between the pipes, Alex Nedeljkovic missed Saturday’s contest in Syracuse, leading to the Checkers recalling rookie Callum Booth from Florida. The good news is that it doesn’t appear that the league’s wins leader will be absent for long.

“He’s fine, it’s more precaution than anything,” said Vellucci. “We just want to make sure. We have four games this week so we want to get him ready for the weekend.”

Up front, the Checkers could be without Lucas Wallmark and Clark Bishop, who both missed Saturday’s game, as well as Aleksi Saarela.

“Wallmark is out, he’ll be out for the next two games but hopefully back for the weekend,” said Vellucci. “Saarela is out, hopefully he gets back by the weekend. Bishop had the flu this weekend so he’s lost a lot of weight, we’ll see if he can get back Wednesday but if not he should be ready for the weekend.”

On the blue line, the Checkers have gotten Josiah Didier back from his three-game suspension, but could be without Roland McKeown, who was recalled by Carolina to fill in for the injured Justin Faulk Monday. The Hurricanes, however, don’t play on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In some encouraging news, Andrew Miller continues to skate with the team at practice in a yellow no-contact sweater, while Jake Chelios took a spin around the ice in sweats before Monday’s practice.

All in all, the Checkers could sport a very different looking lineup against the Phantoms, but the moves are necessary.

“These are all legit injuries,” said Vellucci. “Guys have been playing through some things and have to get rest. It just happened this way, I’m not just trying to rest anybody. I want to play a full lineup and get into the playoffs and get better every day and get firing on all cylinders come playoff time.”

4. AGAINST THE PHANTOMS

The Checkers have faced off with the division-leading Phantoms six previous times this season, and Lehigh Valley has gotten the best of them. Charlotte is 2-4-0-0 in the season series thus far, including dropping each of the last two contests. The two squads have been evenly matched for the most part, with three of Lehigh Valley’s four victories having been decided by two goals or fewer.

Warren Foegele has led the way for Charlotte during the season series, logging three goals and three assists in six games, while Patrick Brown (3g, 1a), Saarela (2g, 2a) and Janne Kuokkanen (0g, 4a) have all posted four points. On the other side, Lehigh Valley’s top weapons have delivered against the Checkers, with Greg Carey (3g, 3a) and AHL scoring leader Phil Varone (1g, 5a) putting up six points in six and five games against Charlotte, respectively.

Between the pipes, Jeremy Smith has played two games against the Phantoms, going 1-1-0 with a 2.53 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage, while Callum Booth appeared in relief for 11 minutes against Lehigh Valley, turning aside all the shots he saw. For the Phantoms, longtime Checker John Muse has gone 2-1-0 against Charlotte with a 2.13 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage, while veteran Dustin Tokarski was shelled for three goals in less than nine minutes in his lone appearance against the Checkers this season. The other netminder on the Lehigh Valley roster, Anthony Stolarz, has not faced the Checkers this season.

As it stands, the Checkers and Phantoms would be squaring off in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs, but Vellucci isn’t concerned with his team’s would-be opponent.

“We want to get into the playoffs first and then worry about who we’re going to play later,” he said. “It could be a preview, you never know. But we just want to play well and get our four points. We want to get going as far as building up to the playoffs and continue to get better and better and do the right things.”

5. MCKEGG PARTY

The acquisition of Greg McKegg at the NHL trade deadline has proven to be huge for the Checkers. With four points over the weekend, the sixth-year pro now has 17 points (8g, 9a) in 13 games for Charlotte and has been held off the scoresheet just once. McKegg’s current nine-game point streak is the longest by a Checker this season, the longest since Ryan Murphy’s franchise-record 12-game run in 2013-14, as well the longest active streak in the AHL.

“I think he feels comfortable here in our system,” said Vellucci. “We put him in a good position to succeed and he’s playing with some good players. I think it’s the factor of all those things. He’s a good player, he’s doing the right things and he’s on a roll.”

6. POTTING POINTS

As the season moves closer and closer to its conclusion, last year’s leading scorer has ramped up his offensive production and provided a welcome boost for the Checkers. With six points in his last three games, Andrew Poturalski now sits with 44 on the season and has been one of Charlotte’s biggest offensive weapons.

“Well his mom was at the last game so maybe she should come on every road trip,” joked Vellucci. “No but really, he’s played really well. He’s played really well defensively and that’s the key. His effort to track and play in his own end has been better and when you’re doing that it leads to good things offensively. On top of that, he’s getting more ice time because he’s playing a competitive game.”

Poturalski is also one of two players to appear in all of Charlotte’s games this season, alongside Philip Samuelsson. Should they finish the year with 76 games played, the two would be the eighth and ninth players in franchise history to play in every game during a season.

7. ON THE PLUS SIDE

Speaking of Samuelsson, the veteran defenseman continues to put together a strong season on the blue line for Charlotte. He leads the league with a +39 rating, which is more than double the franchise’s current single-season record of +16, most recently accomplished by Haydn Fleury last season. Samuelsson has been a plus player in each of the last 12 contests and has finished a game as a minus just 13 times all year.

8. OFFENSIVE OUTBURST

The Checkers’ offense has spent most of this season ranking as one of the league’s top units, currently sitting in third place. Charlotte is one of nine teams across the league to have a positive goal differential in all three periods, with the second period standing out as the team’s most dominant, sporting a +20 differential.

9. HOLDING LEADS

The Checkers have been solid when getting an early advantage. They are 20-2-1-0 when holding a lead at the first intermission and 33-1-1-0 at the second intermission. Both stand as the second-fewest regulation losses in those situations league wide.

10. GET THE APP

The Checkers app got a fresh new set of paint during the offseason but functions just the same. Follow along with scoring updates as well as play the Top Line interactive game.

You will also be able to listen to the radio broadcast via the app or this link. Jason Shaya’s pregame show starts 15 minutes prior to puck drop, tune in and tweet Jason to let him know you’re listening.