Game Preview: Checkers vs Lehigh Valley (January 22, 2022)

The Checkers wrap up their home stand with a key divisional battle against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this weekend.

QUICK HITS

BACK ON TRACK

With Thursday’s win over Springfield, the Checkers snapped their two-game losing streak and have yet to lose three straight games in regulation this season. The Checkers have now won four of their last six contests.

NEW FACE IN NET

When NC native Billy Christopoulos beat the Thunderbirds on Thursday, he became the sixth different netminder to earn a win for the Checkers this season – which stands as the most in the AHL.

FLEURY CATCHES FIRE

With another helper on Thursday, Cale Fleury has run his assist streak to four games, tied for the longest such streak by a Checker this season.

WELCOME BACK MAX

After an extended stint with the Kraken, Max McCormick returned to the Charlotte lineup for the first time since Dec. 11 on Thursday and picked up a goal, giving himself a two-game point streak with Charlotte.

OFFENSE RAMPS UP

The Checkers have now scored at least four goals in three of their last four games and six of their last 12 games. They now face a Phantoms team that they have scored at least four goals against in three of their four previous meetings this season.

QUOTES

Head Coach Geordie Kinnear on whether the team expects to get any other goalies back from the NHL clubs
"Not as of this weekend. Obviously with Covid it creates an issue for some guys. This is the group we have, this is the group we’re focused on."

Kinnear on the influx of PTOs in the lineup
""Opportunity is a wonderful thing, everyone wants an opportunity at some point in life - whatever that is. We have a lot of guys like that right now that have been champing at the bit to get in the lineup and prove they can play at the American Hockey League level. When you get it, you have to make the most of it. You have to do the work prior to the opportunity to be able to get that. We recognize these players as guys that deserve it, now it’s up to them."

Kinnear after Thursday's game on the veterans sparking the offense
"Max [McCormick] is an important player for us. He plays hard, he makes plays, he scored a big goal. Dalps has been a great pro all the way, plays hard every single day, comes to practice to work and is a leader by example. Your work is always rewarded if you do those things, you just don’t know when. Sometimes you go through struggles, but as long as that is consistent things will turn out pretty good for you. Those guys are great examples."


Checkers captain Zac Dalpe after Thursday's game on the team keeping their winning ways going
"We’re playing a game every other day, and it can go either way. We had a couple of games slide and then the weather starts getting bad, but the fans showed up and we grinded out a win. No rest for the wicked with a back-to-back coming up, so we’ll just keep a good thing going."

COMING IN

CLT: 3-2-0-0 in last five games this season

LHV: 2-1-2-0 in last five games this season

WHO TO WATCH

CLT

Connor Carrick - 4 points in last 4 games

Zac Dalpe - 4 goals in last 4 games

Cale Fleury – 5 points in last 4 games

LHV

Linus Sandin – 5 points in last 5 games

Cal O'Reilly – 16 points in last 13 games

Adam Clendening – 10 points in last 7 games

PROMOS

TUNE IN

Tonight's game starts at 4 p.m. If you can't be at the Coliseum, you can tune in to every broadcast this season with a subscription to the league’s streaming platform AHLTV.

As always, the radio broadcast will be available via the Checkers app on iPhone or Android.