Game Preview: Checkers vs. Norfolk (Dec. 15, 2013)

The Checkers take on the fourth of five opponents they’ll face during their current home stand when they welcome the Norfolk Admirals to Time Warner Cable Arena tonight.

With back-to-back wins over San Antonio earlier this week pushing their record to 4-2-0 to start a franchise-record-tying, 10-game run in Charlotte, the Checkers hope to make it their longest streak of the season with a win tonight. They had only won two in a row once previously after starting the season 2-0-0 in Oklahoma City.

Tonight marks the second meeting of the season between Charlotte and Norfolk, with the Checkers dropping a 5-2 decision on the road the day before Thanksgiving. That gives Norfolk an early edge in the GEICO Challenge Cup, a trophy that is awarded to the team with the most points at the conclusion of the eight-game season series on March 19. The competition continues when the teams meet again on Thursday.

Charlotte

If recent games are any indication, the Checkers, who struggled mightily during a franchise-record, seven-game losing streak in November, have rediscovered their confidence in a big way.

Tied or trailing late in the third period of both of their last two games against San Antonio – situations that, during their losing streak, were unlikely to change before the final buzzer – the Checkers scored dramatic late goals to win both. In each game, they actually had to do so multiple times, with referees disallowing a key goal and forcing them to score another, which they were happy to do.

After their last win, in which they scored twice in the game’s last 70 seconds, including the winner with 7.3 second left, to win 3-2, spirits were understandably high.

“It’s awesome,” said forward Chris Terry, scored the last-minute winner on Thursday. “The excitement level when we scored to tie and the excitement level when we scored to win, you can’t replicate that. Guys are buying in – it doesn’t matter how small or big their role is. We’re a team.”

Since their last meeting with Norfolk on Nov. 23, the Checkers have won four of their last six games.

“As coaches we slowly started to see things turning, but you need wins like (Thursday) to keep the excitement for the guys coming to the rink ready to go,” said coach Jeff Daniels.

As the Checkers look to build even further on that momentum, they’ll have to do so without another key defenseman in Danny Biega. Following a crash into the boards on Thursday, Daniels said that the rookie standout will join Rasmus Rissanen on the sidelines for at least a few weeks, leaving the team without two of its top-four defensemen.

To help fill the void, the team recalled first-year pro Austin Levi from the ECHL’s Florida Everblades on Saturday. The 21-year-old, third-round draft pick by the Hurricanes in 2010 is expected to make his AHL debut tonight after logging four assists, 22 penalty minutes and a plus-2 rating with Florida.

For tonight and the foreseeable future, Daniels will have to balance the consistently solid play of John Muse, who has won four in a row and is responsible for all eight of the Checkers wins since he joined the team in late October, with the need to get more games for Mike Murphy. Muse has posted a 2.25 goals-against average while playing 15 of the team’s 25 games, while Murphy is a 3.89 while playing just four total games all season due to an NHL recall and an injury.

In addition to Biega and Rissanen, forwards Sean Dolan and Jared Staal are expected to remain sidelined due to injury.

Norfolk

Though Norfolk has been playing well of late (wins in three of its last four), the Checkers should have one clear advantage entering tonight’s game.

As rested as they’ve been in some time with two days off since Thursday, Charlotte welcomes a team that will be playing for the third time in three nights. The Admirals, one of a select few AHL teams that can claim as many travel oddities as Charlotte due to their relatively remote locations compared to the rest of the league, hosted Springfield for a two-game set to start this weekend. They began it with a 5-4 shootout win, tying them for the most shootout appearances in the league with eight, before falling by a 5-2 score last night.

If previous patterns are any indication, the Checkers are likely to see John Gibson, perhaps the best young goaltender in the league, tonight. The 20-year-old, who has played in 20 of Norfolk’s 26 games, played the first game against Springfield before backing up Igor Bobkov last night. After a stellar junior career that included sparkling gold-medal performance in last year’s World Junior Championship, Gibson, the AHL’s Goaltender of the Month in October, has a 2.39 goals-against average and .925 save percentage to start his pro career.

Though he made 33 saves to defeat the Checkers less than a month ago, Gibson was not the story of that game. That honor goes to forwards Emerson Etem and Devante Smith-Pelly, who had just returned from the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks that afternoon and each recorded three points – a showing that Daniels used as an example for his own struggling stars at the time.

Beginning with that meeting, Etem, who has gone to the NHL and back since then, has seven points (2g, 5a) in three AHL games, while Smith-Pelly has 10 (6g, 4a) in 13. They were Anaheim’s first- and second-round picks, respectively, in the 2010 draft.

Norfolk, which looked like it was going to be without several key players up until the last-minute returns of Etem and Smith-Pelley heading into last month’s meeting with Charlotte, is set to have many of its mainstays tonight. Veteran defensemen Nolan Yonkman and Alex Grant, the latter of whom recently became the first defenseman to score goals in his first two NHL games since 1995, have returned to Norfolk, as has experienced center David Steckel. Of the club’s top 17 scorers, only Peter Holland, part of a trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs last month, is not on the active roster.

Checkers Notes

Winning with Muse

John Muse has won each of his last four games dating back to Nov. 30, which marks the longest streak by a Checkers goalie since Justin Peters won four consecutive starts from Jan. 4-16 of last season. Muse started his AHL career by winning five straight games from Dec. 16-Jan. 26 of the 2011-12 season, which still marks his career high. Current teammate Mike Murphy holds the team's all-time record with a pair of six-game streaks set during the 2010-11 season.

Since joining the Checkers on a tryout contract on Oct. 23, Muse has been in goal for all eight of the Checkers' wins. He ranks eighth in the AHL with a 2.25 goals-against average, is tied for 10th with a .922 save percentage and is tied for second with two shutouts. The other six goalies the team has used this season - Murphy, Justin Peters, Jesse Deckert, Allen York, Rick DiPietro and Rob Madore - are a combined 2-8-1 with a 3.74 goals-against average and .865 save percentage.

Power Players

The Checkers, who rank third in the AHL with a 23.8 percent success rate on the power play, have scored at least one man-advantage goal in each of their last six games (8-for-24; 33.3 percent). That ties the longest streak they have posted this season.

The Checkers have scored 44.6 percent of their goals on the power play this season (29-for-65), which is the highest percentage of any AHL team. St. John's is the next-highest at 36.5 percent.

Boychuk Powers Up

After starting the season with two goals in his first 13 games, forward Zach Boychuk now has eight in his last 12 to give him a share of the team lead along with Chris Terry. Eight of Boychuk's 10 goals have come on the power play, marking the most in the AHL. He is the Checkers' all-time leader with 36 power-play goals, at least nine more than any other player.

Boychuk is also tied for first in the AHL with 14 power-play points.

Mr. 200

With a goal against San Antonio on Dec. 10, Chris Terry became the first player to record 200 points with the Checkers. Terry, who led the team in scoring for two of his three seasons with the club, has 28 more career points than teammate Zach Boychuk, who has second most, and is one of five players to have cleared the 100-point mark with Charlotte (Zac Dalpe, Jerome Samson and Brett Sutter).

Terry, who has nine points (4g, 5a) in nine games since returning from an NHL stint, is also the Checkers' all-time leader in games played (243), goals (85) and assists (118). Including his rookie season with Albany, he is now just one point shy of 250 for his AHL career.

Floodgates Open

Mark Flood's eight goals rank third on the team and are tied for the second-most among all AHL defensemen, while his five power-play goals are tied for first among league blueliners. His 68 shots on goal are tied with Zach Boychuk for most on the team and are the fourth most of all AHL defensemen.

In just 25 games, Flood, 29, already has the third-highest single-season goal total by a Checkers defenseman behind Bobby Sanguinetti (10 in 2011-12) and Bryan Rodney (nine in 2010-11). He is also just three away from his AHL career high of 11 set with Manitoba during the 2010-11 campaign. He scored just one goal in 52 games in the Russian KHL last season.

Home Again

The Checkers' current 10-game home stand ties the longest in franchise history, a record originally set from Nov. 25-Dec. 15 of last season. Dating back to Nov. 7, the Checkers are in the midst of a stretch in which they play 16 of 19 games at Time Warner Cable Arena. After starting the season 0-6-0 on home ice, the Checkers have won five of eight in their own building.

Divided Division

In 25 games, the Checkers have played against their own division, the West, just five times (4-1-0), marking the fewest games that any AHL team has played within its own division. They will not play another divisional game until facing Texas on Jan. 2, which marks the start of a run in which they will play eight of nine games against divisional opponents. The West Division is the only division that the Checkers have a winning record against.

Against Norfolk

In 29 previous meetings between Charlotte and Norfolk, the Checkers have a record of 14-12-3, including a 5-2 loss in Norfolk on Nov. 27. The teams were formerly East Division rivals in the Checkers' inaugural AHL season in 2010-11, with Norfolk just one of two Eastern Conference teams (Hershey) that the Checkers have played since moving to the Western Conference the following season.

In the two previous seasons of its existence, each team captured one GEICO Challenge Cup, which is awarded to the team that finishes with the most points at the conclusion of the eight-game season series. Charlotte won with a 5-3-0 record last season but went just 2-5-1 against the Admirals during their Calder Cup season in 2011-12.

Quick Hits

• The Checkers current two-game win streak is their first since the season's opening weekend and first win streak at home since March 17-26 of last season.
• The Checkers' five shorthanded goals allowed are tied for the fourth-most in the AHL
• Charlotte is one of three teams that have yet to score a shorthanded goal
• Matt Corrente ranks tied for fourth among all AHL defensemen with five major penalties
• Charlotte has both scored (26) and allowed (30) more goals in the third period than in any other period
• The Checkers' two overtime games are the fewest of any AHL team.

Player Streaks

• John Muse has won each of his last four starts (Nov. 30-Dec. 12)
• Aaron Palushaj has assists and points in each of his last two games (Dec. 10-12: 0g, 4a)
• Chris Terry has goals and points in each of his last two games (Dec. 10-12: 2g, 1a)

Milestones

• Chris Terry is one point away from 250 AHL points
• Philippe Cornet is one point away from 100 AHL points
• Nicolas Blanchard is two goals away from 25 Checkers goals

Transactions

Incoming

• Dec. 14 - (D) Austin Levi recalled to Charlotte from Florida (ECHL)

Outgoing

• none