Game Preview: Checkers vs Rochester (December 14, 2021)

The home stand rolls on as the Checkers look to keep their momentum going against the Rochester Americans.

FOUR STORYLINES

HEATING UP

Since dropping back-to-back games to the AHL-leading Utica Comets, the Checkers have won three of their last four contests coming into Tuesday’s matchup. They’ll face a challenge against the red-hot Amerks, as Rochesters enters tonight having won five straight to climb to second place in the North Division.

CARDIAC CHECKERS

With Cale Fleury’s game-winning tally coming at the 17:50 mark of the third period on Saturday, the Checkers have now scored the game-winning goal inside of the last six minutes of regulation in four of their last five victories.

Through 23 games this season, the Checkers have had nine decided by a single goal and posted a 4-3-2-0 record in those situations.

SCHWINDT STAYS HOT

With his game-tying goal on Saturday, Cole Schwindt extended his current point streak to five games – the longest such streak by a Checker this season. The forward has posted seven points over that stretch, pushing him into the team lead for goals and a tie for second in points.

POWERING UP

The Checkers went 2-for-6 on the man advantage Saturday, giving them multiple power-play goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season. They have scored five times on their last 13 man advantages and now rank second in the league in terms of power-play percentage.

They’ll face a Rochester club that has excelled on the power play - they rank first in the AHL - but have had a harder time on the kill. The Amerks currently rank 23rd in the league in penalty kill percentage - though they have gone perfect on the kill in each of their last two games and four of their last five.

QUOTES

Checkers defenseman Chase Priskie on the team's clutch play as of late
"We’ve got some real deep belief in our room that we’re going to win every game. Even going into the third period down a couple goals, it doesn’t deter our team whatsoever. We just continue to stick to the game plan and dig deep."

On staying positive in the locker room
"We haven’t really had that doubt creep in whatsoever. We’ve had a couple losses back-to-back and that’s something that we’re definitely trying to minimize, but at the same time, we know that we’re definitely capable of winning games and going on a couple streaks. That’s what we plan to do here."

On facing Rochester
"For us, it’s just sticking to our game plan, staying connected. We’ve got five guys on the ice playing together. It doesn’t really matter what the other team is doing, as long as we stick to our game plan."

On playing in front of a rotating cast of goalies lately
"We’ve been lucky, even though it has been a bit of a carousel this year, that all of the goalies are extremely talented and they all know what it takes to play at this level. They’ve all experienced it and been successful. So for us it’s just being on the same page with our goalie commands when the pcuk gets to him and making sure that the defense and the goalies are communicating. Besides that it’s just hockey at the end of the day - they make some big saves and we try to minimize the saves they have to make. It’s been a pretty harmonious relationship."

On the home-ice advantage in Charlotte
"We absolutely love it. Whenever the crowd gets into it, you kind of get a second wind of energy. We’re extremely excited to play at home right before this Christmas break and feed off of that energy from our crowd."

COMING IN

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

ROC: 5-0-0-0 in last five games this season

WHO TO WATCH

CLT

Logan Hutsko - 3 points in last 2 games

Connor Carrick - 5 points in last 5 games

Cole Schwindt – 7 points in last 5 games

ROC

Peyton Krebs – 8 points in last 4 games

Mattias Samuelsson – 4 points in last 2 games

Sean Malone – 10 points in last 5 games

PROMOS

TUNE IN

Tonight's game starts at 7 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.