Game Preview: Checkers vs. Oklahoma City (Feb. 9, 2014)

The Checkers look to get back on track on they host the second of two weekend games against the Oklahoma City Barons at 1:30 p.m.

Consecutive road losses to the Abbotsford Heat combined with their first loss to the Barons this season on Friday have given the Checkers a three-game losing streak – their longest since losing seven in a row in November. After winning eight of 10 previous games, Charlotte had only recently gotten back to the .500 mark following that slide, with the new one dropping them under once again.

Charlotte is 6-1-0 against Oklahoma City this season, with Friday's loss ending a six-game win streak since last season's playoffs. Following the AHL All-Star break that starts tomorrow, the Checkers return to action for a pair of games at PNC Arena in Raleigh on Friday and Sunday.

Charlotte

Since hitting arguably the high point of their season in defeating Oklahoma City by a 9-3 score on Jan. 24 to win their fourth straight game, the Checkers are 1-4-0. That has dropped them down to 13th in the Western Conference, though they could still climb up rather quickly given the small gap separating the other teams in their range.

That would have to start to start today, with the memory of Friday’s disappointing 8-5 loss still fresh.

“We’re just not playing well right now,” said coach Jeff Daniels. “That’s five games in a row now where we haven’t been sharp. We’re not in a position to lose any more really. If you want to get in the playoffs you can’t lose two or three in a row.”

“We’ve got to be more intense,” said defenseman Mark Flood, who set a new franchise record for goals by a defenseman with his 11th of the season on Friday. “It’s everybody. It’s not one single guy. It’s all of us that have to win battles. Myself, I’ve got to be better as does everybody else.”

A few days of rest may help. The Checkers had only arrived in Charlotte at 9 p.m. on Thursday following a full day of travel from Abbotsford, during which time the Barons were already settled in Charlotte and practicing. Aside from what was said after the game, the manner of the loss, in which the Checkers led 3-1 early in the third period but gave up six unanswered goals, suggested that fatigue may have been a factor as the game wore on.

“We had a tough week and a long week, but that was the schedule,” said Daniels. “We had to find a way to win (Friday) and we didn’t.”

“Definitely we were tired, but that’s no excuse,” said Flood. “We’re professionals and we train for this kind of stuff. At the end of the day we lost the game and that’s all that matters.”

Daniels still has lineup decisions to make for today, particularly in goal, where John Muse has allowed 11 in his last two starts. Though he was hardly at fault for many of those, Mike Murphy has played reasonably well while making appearances in each of the Checkers’ last three games.

Forwards Matt Marquardt and Jared Staal and defenseman Beau Schmitz are available after sitting out Friday’s game as healthy extras. Defenseman Rasmus Rissanen may be ready to return after missing one game due to an illness.

Oklahoma City

Since the Checkers improved to 6-0-0 in the head-to-head series with victories of 4-0 and 9-3 just a few weeks ago, the Barons have responded with a season-high four straight victories. In addition to Friday's win, that includes tough games against Toronto (at home) and Texas (twice on the road) – teams that have ranked near the top of the Western Conference all season.

By winning Friday, Oklahoma City passed Charlotte in the standings by a single point, though the Checkers have two games in hand.

Roman Horak was one of the heroes of Friday's win as he picked up three goals during the Baron's six-goal run that saw them pull away from the Checkers in the third period. The club's all-time scoring leader, center Mark Arcobello, also had three points to give him seven (3g, 4a) in just three AHL games since rejoining the team from the parent Edmonton Oilers. However, Charlotte catches a break today as Arcobello will be forced to take the NHL's Olympic break due to his time spent there this season and will not be eligible to play today.

The Barons also got offensive contributions from another player with NHL experience in Ben Eager (407 games). An agitator who sat out the Jan. 24 game after picking up a total of 26 penalty minutes, most of which he earned by arguing with officials the night before, Eager had two goals an assist on Friday.

In other news, Anton Lander has a five-game point streak and 17 points in 13 games since returning from Edmonton on Jan. 4. Defenseman Brad Hunt also has points in his last five.

Richard Bachman, who has been in goal for all four games of the Barons' win streak, is likely to start again today. Backup Tyler Bunz, who came up from the ECHL on Jan. 28, has played five career AHL games over the last two seasons.

Checkers Notes

High Score

The 13 total goals in Friday's 8-5 loss to Oklahoma City tied the second most in the league this season and the second-most in a Checkers game during their four AHL seasons, trailing only a 9-5 road victory at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 23, 2011. It tied the most ever in a game at Time Warner Cable Arena, a record set twice previously.

All three previous games in which the Checkers and their opponent combined for 13 or more goals in a single game were victories for Charlotte. Friday's game marked just the third time that the Checkers have lost a game despite scoring five or more goals and the first since the opening game of the 2011-12 season.

Goals Against

The Checkers' eight goals allowed to Oklahoma City on Friday tied the most in franchise history, a record set on two previous occasions. One of those was this season (an 8-1 loss to Hershey on Nov. 14) and all three were at home.

In their last three games, the Checkers have allowed seven, four and eight goals, respectively, to see their goals-against average for the season rise from 3.00 (20th AHL) to 3.22 (27th AHL).

Bump in the Road

The Checkers' current three-game losing streak is their second-longest of the season, trailing a franchise-record, seven-game slide from Nov. 2-19. Prior to the current streak, the Checkers had won eight of their previous 10 games.

Charlotte ranks fifth in the West Division - its lowest divisional standing since Dec. 15. However, it could climb back to third with a win today as it trails San Antonio and Oklahoma City by one point with two games in hand on each club. It could also climb from 13th to 10th in the Western Conference by this afternoon.

Floodgates Open

Mark Flood scored his 11th goal of the campaign against Oklahoma City on Feb. 7 to set a new team record for most goals by a defenseman in a single season. Flood, who needed just 46 games to accomplish the feat, topped the old mark of 10 set by Bobby Sanguinetti in the 2011-12 season and tied his own career high set with Manitoba in 2010-11.

Flood, a 29-year-old veteran who scored just one goal in 52 games in the Russian KHL last season, ranks second in terms of goals by AHL defensemen and is tied for third among league blueliners with six power-play goals.

Biega Breakthrough

After going without a goal in his first 38 professional games with Charlotte dating back to last season, Danny Biega scored twice in the Checkers' 4-3 loss to Abbotsford on Wednesday. It marked the second multi-goal game by a Charlotte defenseman this season, with Matt Corrente also scoring twice at Milwaukee on Dec. 27. Biega went on to record an assist against Oklahoma City on Feb. 7, extending his point streak to a career-long three games (2g, 2a). Of his 11 points this season, seven have come in his last nine games (2g, 5a).

This season's two-goal performances by Biega and Corrente mark the fifth and sixth times that a player has scored his first two Checkers goals in the same game (Zach Boychuk on Oct. 17, 2010, Cedric McNicoll on Jan. 14, 2011, Jeremy Welsh on Oct. 27, 2012, and Beau Schmitz on March 15, 2013). Biega was the third player to score his first two professional goals in the same Checkers game, joining Welsh and Schmitz.

Boychuk Burst

Checkers forward Zach Boychuk has seven goals in his last six games, including the second and third hat tricks of his career on Jan. 24 and Feb. 1. He leads the Checkers and ranks fourth in the AHL with 22 goals, which are just one shy of his career high set last season. He has hit the 20-goal mark in the AHL in each of his four seasons with the Checkers.

Boychuk's 88 career Checkers goals are one short of tying Chris Terry for the franchise's all-time lead. He already leads the franchise with 40 power-play goals, including 12 this season that are tied for the most in the AHL and for the Checkers' single-season record.

Power Outage

Since tying a franchise record with five power-play goals on seven chances against Oklahoma City on Jan. 24, the Checkers are 0-for-18 in their last five games. That marks the team's longest drought of the season, eclipsing an 0-for-13 run that lasted three games from Nov. 2-9.

Over the course of their current drought, the Checkers' have fallen from second in the AHL at 23.4 percent to fourth in the league at 21.4 percent.

Against the Barons

The Checkers' 12-game season series against Oklahoma City ties the longest in team history (Norfolk in 2010-11). Of Charlotte's remaining 30 games, five of those will come against the Barons.

Not including playoffs (Oklahoma City defeated the Checkers 3-2 in last season's first round), Charlotte holds an all-time record of 15-6-2 against the Barons, including a 6-1-0 record this season. The Checkers can today tie their record for most-ever wins in a head-to-head series, one that was previously set when the team went 7-3-2 against Norfolk in 2010-11 and 7-0-1 against Peoria in 2012-13.

Checkers forwards Matt Marquardt and Philippe Cornet are both former Barons, with Cornet representing them in the 2011-12 All-Star Game. Defenseman Keegan Lowe's father, Kevin Lowe, is a member of the parent Edmonton Oilers' front-office staff, while forward Brody Sutter's father, Duane Sutter, is an Oilers scout.

Barons forwards Matthew Ford and Steve MacIntyre both played for Charlotte during its ECHL era.

Quick Hits

• Charlotte's one power-play opportunity received against Oklahoma City on Feb. 7 was their fewest of the season. They also went 0-for-1 three times last season.
• After allowing a total of 11 goals in his last two starts, neither of which resulted in a completed game, John Muse's goals-against average for the season has risen from 2.39 to 2.71.
• Brett Sutter's seven shots on goal on Feb. 7 tied his most-ever in a regular-season game, a record set once previously in his rookie season with Quad City on April 11, 2008. He had nine in a playoff game with Abbotsford on April 21, 2010.
• Cousins Brett and Brody Sutter scored in the same game for the first time in their careers on Feb. 7.
• Brody Sutter (23 games) and Michal Jordan (26 games) each broke lengthy goal droughts on Feb. 7.
  
• The Checkers are 10-6-0 against fellow West Division opponents this season, making it the only division they have a winning record against. They have lost each of their last three divisional games and will play each of their next three against divisional opponents.
• The Checkers have scored three or more goals in 13 of their last 17 games. They are 20-8-0 when scoring three or more (though they have lost each of their last two when accomplishing that feat) and 2-15-1 when scoring fewer than three.
• The Checkers have lost each of their last two one-goal games after winning 10 of their previous 11.
• In terms of winning percentage, February is historically the Checkers' best month with an all-time record of 19-11-5, though they are off to a 1-3-0 start this season.
• Charlotte's four overtime games and two shootouts are the fewest in the league.

Player Streaks

• Danny Biega has points in each of his last three games (Feb. 4-7: 2g, 2a)
• Brett Sutter has goals and points in three straight home games (Jan. 23-Feb. 7: 3g, 2a) and points in each of his last two games (Feb. 5-7: 1g, 3a)
• Zach Boychuk has assists and points in each of his last two games (Feb. 5-7: 1g, 2a)

Milestones

• Zach Boychuk recorded his 100th Checkers assist at Abbotsford on Feb. 5.

Injuries

• Rasmus Rissanen - missed one game starting Feb. 7 (illness)

Transactions

Incoming

• Feb. 6 - (D) Beau Schmitz recalled to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)
• Feb. 6 - (C) Sean Dolan recalled to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)

Outgoing

• Feb. 7 - (C) A.J. Jenks released from professional tryout contract
• Feb. 7 - (RW) Matthew Pistilli released from professional tryout contract
• Feb. 2 - (G) Cam Ward recalled to Carolina (NHL) from Charlotte