Game Preview: Checkers vs. Oklahoma City (March 29, 2014)

The Checkers begin a crucial set of games against one of their main competitors for postseason position as they welcome the Oklahoma City Barons tonight.

Charlotte has only nine games remaining in the regular season. Four of the next five will be against the Barons, their West Division rival who trail them by just two points in the standings with one game in hand. With the playoff race looking as though it could result in two of Charlotte, Oklahoma City, Rockford and Rochester finishing the season in the top eight, it's possible that a split in these upcoming head-to-head match-ups, a favorable result in most other circumstances, may not be enough.

The miniseries, which could set up to be a wild card round of sorts against teams who faced each other in last season's playoffs, continues with a Sunday afternoon rematch in Charlotte and two games in Oklahoma City next weekend. Charlotte leads the season series 6-1-1, having won each of the first six before dropping the next two in Charlotte.

Charlotte

Back-to-back wins in Iowa midweek, including one of the biggest wins in franchise history in terms of goal differential (a 7-0 win on Wednesday) put the Checkers back into playoff position for the first time since November. Despite not playing on a busy Friday around the league, they held that spot thanks to a ninth straight loss by Rochester.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” said coach Jeff Daniels. “Guys are feeling good about their game and the position that we’re in.”

The Checkers continue to be led by their high-end players in Zach Boychuk, Brett Sutter and Chris Terry, all of whom are averaging over a point per game in March. In Wednesday’s blowout, Terry had three assists to tie the franchise record for most points in a single season (65), Boychuk became the first Checker to record five points in a single game as part of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick (2g, 3a, one fight) and Sutter chipped in a pair of power-play goals.

That group has been a big part of a power play that, while among the league’s best all year, has been particularly deadly of late with a 37.0 percent success rate (10-for-27) in its last four games. That includes a 4-for-10 showing on a Sunday game that turned ugly when the Checkers went up 5-0, setting franchise records for most penalty minutes taken by the Checkers and by their opponents, the Western Conference's last-place team that lost its fifth straight game.

"I just wanted to get out of that third period healthy," said Daniels. "I liked the way we handled it, but there was no need for what happened and it was actually a little embarrassing."

Daniels seems to have accomplished that goal, though he still has prior injuries to deal with this weekend. He has ruled a fourth member of the Checkers’ most prolific scoring group, Aaron Palushaj, out for this weekend’s games after he missed his first two of the season in Iowa. Palushaj leads the Checkers in scoring against the Barons with 12 points in eight games. Meanwhile, fellow forwards Greg Nemisz and Brendan Woods, previously thought to be some way away from a return, are now expected to miss the remainder of the season due to injury.

In goal, John Muse has gone 7-1-0 with a 2.23 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and one shutout since Justin Peters concluded his conditioning stint in Charlotte and Daniels opened a competition for starts between Muse and Mike Murphy. Muse played back-to-back games in Iowa, stopping 46 of 47 shots to solidify his old on the No. 1 job, though, given the short turnaround between tonight's game and that of tomorrow afternoon, Daniels may still need to use both netminders weekend.

“Muse has earned the opportunity to be the guy,” said Daniels. “The way the schedule has set up he’s gotten a chance to play most of the games, but with that said I thought Murphy in his last three or four has been great.”

Even with Palushaj still out of the lineup, the Checkers will have three extra players, one at forward and two on defense, thanks to a pair of Carolina Hurricanes prospects who recently left college to turn pro. Defenseman Dennis Robertson was the first to do so last week and has sat out all four games since, with winger Phil Di Giuseppe just joining the Checkers since they returned from Iowa. Daniels could use those two at some point, but likely not soon.

“They need to prepare every day like they’re going to have a chance to play, but when you’re fighting for a playoff spot and every point matters, you want the guys who have been pushing for it all year to get you in,” said Daniels.

Oklahoma City

The Barons are coming off a 2-1 victory over San Antonio on Tuesday that broke a four-game losing streak against a pair of tough teams in Texas (first in the Western Conference) and Grand Rapids (second). The win came simultaneous to a Checkers victory in Iowa, briefly keeping the teams level in points and games played before Charlotte surged ahead while the Barons began a three-day break the next day.

Missing a handful of key scorers in their last game, the Barons earned the victory via a pair of power-play goals and 33 saves from Richard Bachman, the team’s unquestioned No. 1 netminder who has started 19 of the last 21 games. On a team that has used eight goalies this season, one fewer than the Checkers, Bachman has played 43 of a possible 66 games, going 21-17-4 with a 3.03 goals-against average and .909 save percentage.

Given the quick turnaround between games this weekend, Bachman may only play once. Options for the other are rookie Ty Rimmer, a 22-year-old with only four career AHL games under his belt, and Frans Tuohimaa, a late-round Oilers draft pick who came over from Finland earlier this week.

Goaltending will be even more important as the Barons are expected to be without Mark Arcobello, who has been dominant since coming down from Edmonton in January (at least one point in all 15 games he’s played and 28 points total). Arcobello and team scoring leader Roman Horak will each miss their fourth consecutive game due to injury tonight, while captain Anton Lander and Tyler Pitlick remain in the NHL with the Oilers. Depth forwards Kale Kessey and Ryan Hamilton will also miss out with injuries.

Lander (seven points in seven games) and Horak (six points in six games) lead the Barons in points against the Checkers this season.

Sorting through the list of available bodies, the Barons's active scoring leader would be Brad Hunt, who also happens to rank fourth among AHL defensemen in scoring with 45 points, including nine power-play goals, in 57 games. Their most productive forward would be former ECHL Checker Matthew Ford, who extended his goal streak to four games with his 20th of the season on Tuesday to go with 21 assists.

The game will feature a pair of interesting special teams match-ups, with the Checkers' No. 2 power play going against the Barons' No. 29 penalty kill and Oklahoma City's third-best man advantage facing off against a Charlotte team that ranks 20th in the league but has killed 29 of its last 30 penalties.

Checkers Notes

Against the Barons

The Checkers' 12-game season series against Oklahoma City, which has four games remaining, ties the longest in team history (Norfolk in 2010-11). Of Charlotte's remaining nine games, four of those will come against the Barons, who trail them by just two points in the standings with one game in hand.

Not including playoffs (Oklahoma City defeated the Checkers 3-2 in last season's first round), Charlotte holds an all-time record of 15-6-3 against the Barons, including wins in each of the first six match-ups of this season before the Barons won the last two. 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.

Playoff Picture

A 7-0 win over Iowa on March 26 allowed the Checkers to leapfrog Rochester, which lost its eighth consecutive game that same night, and claim the Western Conference's eighth seed. It marked the first time the Checkers have finished a night of game action in playoff position since Nov. 2, when they lost the first of what became a franchise-record, seven-game losing streak.

Despite sitting idle on Friday, the Checkers held the eighth seed as Rochester lost its ninth straight game to Toronto. Meanwhile, Utica dropped a point in an overtime loss to Abbotsford, ensuring that it can no longer tie the Checkers by winning each of its remaining games in hand. Oklahoma City was also idle Friday but will play the Checkers four times in the next eight days. Charlotte also has one game left against Rockford.

With 32 regulation/overtime wins, the Checkers held the first tiebreaker over every other team in the race as of Saturday morning. No other team had more than 29.

Wild Night

The Checkers' 7-0 win over Iowa on March 26 tied the franchise record for largest margin of victory, set twice previously in a 10-3 win vs. Syracuse on Dec. 6, 2010, and a 7-0 win at Oklahoma City on Jan. 11, 2013. It also set new records for most penalty minutes by the Checkers (86), most penalty minutes by an opponent (162) and most total penalty minutes by both teams (248) - all of which nearly doubled the previous record in each category.

Boychuk's Record Game

Zach Boychuk became the first player in Checkers history to record five points in a single game with two goals and three assists in Iowa on March 26. A Checkers player had recorded four points in a game on 15 previous occasions over the course of the team's four AHL seasons, including three by Boychuk. He ranks fifth in the league with 64 points, one behind his career high and the franchise record which teammate Chris Terry tied on Wednesday.

Boychuk now ranks tied for second in the AHL with a career-high 31 goals that are one off the league lead held by former junior hockey teammate Colton Sceviour. His goal total, which includes a league-best and franchise-record 16 on the power play, is the second highest in team history and only three off the record of 34 set by Terry in the 2010-11 campaign.

During the March 26 game, Boychuk also set a career high with nine penalty minutes, inculding the second fighting major of his career and first Gordie Howe Hat Trick (one goal, one assist and one fight). He has scored three goals in a game three times since Jan. 24.

Terry's Record Season

With three assists in Iowa on March 26 that allowed him to tie his career-long point streak at nine games (7g, 7a), forward Chris Terry tied the franchise record for most points in a single season (65) set by teammate Zach Boychuk in 2010-11. That total is one more than his previous career high of 64, also set in 2010-11, and stands as the fourth-highest in the AHL.

Terry's nine-game point streak equals a streak set in his first nine games of this season (6g, 4a from Oct. 4-31). It is the second-longest by a Checker this season, trailing Ryan Murphy's active 12-game streak, and contained the team's longest goal streak of the season (five games from March 12-21).

Murphy's Record Streak

Since joining the Checkers from the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time this season on Jan. 24, Ryan Murphy has 19 points (1g, 18a) in 16 games. He currently has the second-most assists among Charlotte defensemen for the entire season and has set a new club record for most by a Checkers rookie blueliner in a single campaign (Michal Jordan had 14 in 2010-11).

Murphy has assists in each of his last 12 games (14a), setting a new franchise record for longest assist streak that previously stood at six (Zach Boychuk in 2010) and marking the longest posted by any AHL player since Hershey's Keith Aucoin (14) in the 2011-12 season. The last time an AHL defenseman recorded assists in 12 or more consecutive games was in 2008-09, when Binghamton rookie Mattias Karlsson accomplished that exact feat. The last time an AHL defenseman had an assist streak longer than 12 games was a 14-game run by Hershey's Josef Boumedienne in 2007-08.

Murphy's 12-game point streak (1g, 14a) is the second-longest active streak in the AHL (Oklahoma City's Mark Arcobello - 15) and is the longest posted by an AHL defenseman all season. It is the longest by any player in Checkers history, breaking the old record of 11 games set by fellow defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti from Jan. 12-Feb. 12, 2012.

Murphy, the Hurricanes' first-round pick (12th overall) in 2011, now has 23 points in 25 career AHL games dating back to last season, including five Calder Cup Playoff games. Thirteen of those points came on the power play.

All He Does Is Win

Checkers goalie John Muse has won 21 of his last 28 decisions dating back to Nov. 23, allowing him to set a new club record for most in a single season. Despite ranking tied for 16th in games played, Muse now ranks fourth in the AHL with 24 victories, two more than the previous franchise record of 22 set by Justin Pogge in 2010-11 and later tied by Justin Peters in 2012-13.

A winner of two NCAA National Championships with Boston College and an ECHL Kelly Cup with the Florida Everblades, Muse, who rejoined the Checkers on a PTO in November before upgrading to an AHL deal, has an all-time AHL record of 42-22-3. He ranks second in the Checkers' AHL history with 41 wins, five more than Peters and two fewer than teammate Mike Murphy. In recording back-to-back wins on March 25 and 26, he stopped 46 of 47 shots, including his sixth career shutout that has him just one away from the franchise record of seven held by Peters.

Murphy's Law

Mike Murphy lost for the seventh time in his last eight decisions by way of a 4-2 defeat against San Antonio on March 23. Murphy has received five total goals of support in his last four starts, all losses, while partner John Muse has gone 8-1-0 while receiving three or more goals of support in eight of his last nine starts.

Marching On

The Checkers have tied their franchise record for most wins in a single month (10-4-0 this March; 10-2-2 in November of 2010). They have two more chances to set a new team record as they prepare for a back-to-back set against Oklahoma City on March 29 and 30.

Four Checkers players are averaging at a point-per-game pace in March. They are: Chris Terry (19 points in 14 games), Zach Boychuk (19 points in 14 games), Brett Sutter (15 points in 14 games) and Aaron Palushaj (13 points in 12 games). John Muse has gone 7-1-0 with a 2.23 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and one shutout during the month.

The Big Three

Along with Texas (four), the Checkers are one of two teams to feature three or more players among the AHL's top 20 scorers . Chris Terry leads the Checkers and ranks fourth in the AHL with 65 points, Zach Boychuk is fifth with 64 points and Aaron Palushaj ranks tied for 12th with 57.

All three players have held sole possesion of the Checkers' scoring lead at one point this season. Terry has already set a new career high for points in a single season (his previous high was 64, in 2010-11) and has tied the franchise record set by Boychuk (also in 2010-11). Boychuk is one away from tying his career high and his old franchise record, while Palushaj's current numbers tie his 2010-11 career highs for goals (22), assists (35) and points set with Hamilton in three additional games played.

Sutter Moving Up

While scoring 28 points (12g, 16a) in his last 28 games dating back to Jan. 23, Checkers captain Brett Sutter passed Zac Dalpe for the third-most points in the Checkers' AHL history (140 in 246 games). Only Chris Terry (248) and Zach Boychuk (216) have more.

Sutter, who played his 500th professional game on March 2, has averaged 0.73 points per game in his last two seasons with the Checkers compared to 0.33 points per game in his first five AHL campaigns with Quad City, Abbotsford and Charlotte. Despite missing 14 games while on NHL duty with Carolina this season, he ranks fourth on the Checkers in scoring with 42 points (14g, 28a) in 53 games.

Power Players

Both Zach Boychuk (1st AHL with 16) and Chris Terry (t-3rd with 14) have broken the franchise record for most power play goals in a single season previously held by Jacob Micflikier (12 goals in 2010-11). Meanwhile, Mark Flood's seven power-play goals are tied for third among AHL defensemen and tied for the most by a Checkers blueliner in a single season (Bobby Sanguinetti in 2011-12).

The 30 total goals by Boychuk and Terry are the most of any two teammates in the league, with the 27 by Texas' Chris Mueller (14) and Colton Sceviour (13) coming in second. Boychuk, Flood and Terry are responsible for 37 of the Checkers' 69 power-play goals (53.6 percent) with no other player on the team scoring more than five.

The Checkers currently rank second in the AHL with a 22.9 percent success rate on the power play, a mark that, if sustained for the final nine games of the season, would mark the highest of their four AHL campaigns. The team has never converted at a rate lower than 19.8 percent over the course an entire season.

Special Teams Surge

The Checkers' power play, which has ranked near the top of the league all season, has gone 10-for-27 in its last four games (37 percent) to improve to 22.9 percent overall (2nd AHL). A 4-for-10 performance in a 7-0 rout of Iowa on March 26 marked the third time the Checkers have scored four or more power-play goals in a single game this season. It was also a season high in terms of total opportunities.

Meanwhile, the penalty kill has gone 29-for-30 over its last eight games since March 12. The Checkers allowed just three total power-play opportunities over their last two games.

Jordan Finishing Strong

Twelve of Michal Jordan's 23 points on the season have come in the month of March (14 games), including an active five-game point streak (1g, 4a) that marks the longest in his four professional seasons. Jordan's most recent point, an assist on March 26, allowed him to set a new career high for most points in a single season, edging out his 22-point showing in 2011-12.

Quick Hits

• The 2-1 win over Iowa on March 25 improved the Checkers to 3-21-2 when scoring two or fewer goals this season. John Muse was in goal for all three wins, including a 2-1 victories over San Antonio on Dec. 10 and over Oklahoma City on Jan. 11.
• Aaron Palushaj's 20th goal of the season on March 9 was also his sixth game winner, putting him into an eight-way tie for most in the AHL.
• Mark Flood ranks tied for third among AHL defensemen with 12 goals. That sets a career high and is the most ever by a Charlotte defenseman in a single season.
• The Checkers' eight overtime games (5-3) and four shootouts (2-2) are the fewest in the league.
• The Checkers' three shorthanded goals are the fewest in the AHL. They have never scored fewer than six in a single season.

Player Streaks

• Ryan Murphy has assists and points in each of his last 12 games (Feb. 7-March 26: 1g, 14a)
• Chris Terry has points in each of his last nine games (March 9-26: 7g, 7a)
• Michal Jordan has points in each of his last five games (March 19-26: 1g, 5a)
• Zach Boychuk has goals, assists and points in each of his last two games (March 25-26: 3g, 4a)
• Brett Sutter has points in each of his last two games (March 25-26: 2g, 1a)

Milestones

• Brett Sutter is one shy of 200 AHL points
• Sean Dolan is one shy of 100 professional penalty minutes
• Zach Boychuk is two shy of 100 Checkers goals
• Chris Terry is two shy of 250 Checkers points
• Chris Terry is four shy of 300 professional points
• Chris Terry is four shy of 150 Checkers assists
• Chris Terry is five shy of 300 AHL points
• Jared Staal is four shy of 200 professional games played
• Zach Boychuk recorded his 250th AHL point on March 26
• Nicolas Blanchard recorded his 800th AHL penalty minute on March 26
• Philippe Cornet played his 250th professional game on March 25

Injuries

• Aaron Palushaj - missed two games starting March 25
• Greg Nemisz - missed 11 games starting March 8
• Brendan Woods - missed 17 games starting Feb. 22

Transactions

Incoming

• March 26 - (LW) Phil Di Giuseppe (University of Michigan) signed with Carolina (NHL) and assigned to Charlotte
• March 25 - (D) Ryan Murphy reassigned from Carolina (NHL) to Charlotte
• March 23 - (RW) Matthew Pistilli signed to PTO from Florida (ECHL)

Outgoing

• March 23 - (G) Trevor Cann released from PTO and returned to Florida (ECHL)