Game Preview: Checkers vs. Rockford (Dec. 7, 2013)

The Checkers will again try to win consecutive games for the first time since the season’s opening weekend when they continue their home stand against the Rockford IceHogs tonight.

On Thursday, the third meeting between the two teams in the last two weeks, the Checkers picked up a 3-2 victory courtesy of two goals from Zach Boychuk, who has since departed to and returned from the NHL, and an overtime winner from Brody Sutter. They are now 3-1-1 this season against Rockford with a chance to clinch a victory in the eight-game season series tonight.

Charlotte is off to a 2-1-0 start to its run of 10 consecutive home games that ties a franchise record. After starting the season with six consecutive losses at home, they have won three of their last five at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Charlotte

Having struggled to come back when things had not been going their way earlier in the season, the Checkers erased a 2-0 deficit in their victory over the IceHogs on Thursday, with Boychuk providing both goals before Sutter won it in overtime.

They’ve been in this situation before, having not recorded back-to-back wins since starting the season 2-0-0 with a pair of victories in Oklahoma City, but the Checkers hope being able to get over that hump can finally give them a sustained spark to help them begin a run up the Western Conference standings.

“We wanted to find a way to make a comeback win, and we hadn’t been able to do that,” said Boychuk, who has seven goals in his last nine AHL games, including four in his last three. “It seemed like every time the other team went up we weren’t able to fight our way back, and we’d kind of get a little fragile and lose some confidence. To finally get one really helps.”

Boychuk, who is responsible for four of the Checkers’ last eight goals over their last three outings, has actually played in another comeback victory since then, having participated in the Carolina Hurricanes’ 5-3 win over San Jose on Friday – his first NHL game of the season. He recorded the primary assist on Jay Harrison’s goal that got Carolina on the board after falling into a 2-0 deficit after the first period.

With Boychuk revealing on Twitter that he’s returning to Charlotte for tonight’s game, the Checkers will again have one of their more potent weapons at their disposal, even if he is playing for the third time in three nights. He will likely be reunited with fellow Checkers veterans Brett Sutter and Chris Terry, which was a highly-effective line on Thursday.

“It’s three of your veteran players and three of your best players out there to lead the way and set an example, and I thought they did that,” said Daniels.

Boychuk’s return precludes the Checkers’ need to add another forward for tonight’s game, as Sean Dolan and Jared Staal will remain out due to injury. The team was only able to use 11 forwards at Friday’s practice.

The Checkers could be in for a change in goal, with Mike Murphy ready to play for the first time since Oct. 20. Since then, he had spent roughly one month backing up Justin Peters in the NHL before suffering an injury that had kept him out of Charlotte’s lineup since his return to the AHL on Nov. 18. John Muse has received the bulk of the starts since joining the team in late October, receiving credit for each of the Checkers’ last five wins, including a 32-save effort on Thursday.

Rockford

By far the team that the Checkers have seen most often this season – tonight will mark the sixth meeting, with Charlotte not playing any other team more than twice – Rockford is also the team they’ve had the most success against. Of the Checkers’ four wins since Halloween, three have come at the expense of the IceHogs.

A team that has seen key players come and go all season, Rockford will have at least one lineup change from Thursday, with Kyle Beach going to the New York Rangers organization in exchange for Brandon Mashinter in a Friday trade. Beach was one of the IceHogs’ most productive players of late, having scored four goals in his last two games, including one in the second minute of Thursday’s contest that put Rockford up 1-0.

Mashinter, a 25-year-old forward, had seven points (1g, 6a) with the Hartford Wolf Pack at the time of the trade, giving him 134 points in 282 career AHL games with Hartford/Connecticut and Worcester.

Meanwhile, Brandon Pirri, the reigning AHL scoring champion who the Checkers held off the board on Thursday, remains with the team, as does veteran defenseman Mike Kostka. Rookie Mark McNeill was arguably the IceHogs’ best offensive player in this week’s earlier match-up, recording a goal and five shots in the first period alone. Fellow first-year player and 2011 first-round pick Phillip Danault left the game in the second period after a high stick from Checkers defenseman Keegan Lowe.

Kent Simpson, who stopped 21 of 24 shots on Thursday, is Rockford’s clear No. 1 option with Antti Raanta still in the NHL with Chicago. He has started each of the team’s last five games, though one of those was an abbreviated outing as the IceHogs suffered a 7-1 defeat in Chicago on Nov. 29. Backup Mac Carruth has two career AHL appearances, including a relief outing in that Chicago game and his first career start in a loss at Charlotte on Nov. 23.

Checkers Notes

Boychuk Powers Up

After starting the season with two goals in his 13 games, forward Zach Boychuk now has seven in his last nine to give him sole possession of the team lead. That run includes four goals in his last three games, allowing him to become the fifth Checkers player to score goals in three consecutive games this season (Mark Flood, Chris Terry, Aaron Palushaj, Victor Rask). The last time a Checkers player scored goals in four consecutive games was when Drayson Bowman put together a franchise-record, eight-game streak from Oct. 20-Nov. 4 of last season.

Seven of Boychuk's nine goals have come on the power play, including one man-advantage goal in each of his last three games, allowing him to tie Rochester's Luke Adam for the most power-play goals in the AHL. He is the Checkers' all-time leader with 35 power-play goals, at least nine more than any other player.

Sutter in the Clutch

Including playoffs, four of Brody Sutter's nine career AHL goals were game winners, including two of three this season that tie him with Aaron Palushaj for the team lead. Two of Sutter's career game-winning goals came in overtime, including one that came as part of a two-goal performance in his first professional playoff game on April 26 of last season.

First Comeback

Prior to erasing a 2-0 deficit to record a 3-2 overtime win over Rockford on Thursday, the Checkers were 0-6-0 when allowing the other team to score the first goal, 0-6-0 when trailing after the first period and 0-9-0 when trailing after the second period - all of which occurred during that game.

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 three of five in their own building.

Killers Turning Corner

Though the Checkers rank 24th in the AHL with a 79.6 percent success rate on the penalty kill, they have held opponents off the board in five of their last six games (20 for 22: 90.9 percent), including a perfect 12-for-12 mark over their last three. Prior to Nov. 23, they had prevented power play goals in only four of their first 16 games.

Floodgates Open

Mark Flood's seven goals rank third on the team and are tied for second among all AHL defensemen, while his four power-play goals are also tied for second among league blueliners.

Flood, who scored one goal in 52 games in the Russian KHL last season, is already closing in on his AHL career high of 11 set in 63 games with Manitoba in the 2010-11 campaign.

Divided Division

In 22 games, the Checkers have played against their own division, the West, just three times (2-1-0), marking the fewest games that any AHL team has played within its own division. Following Saturday's game against Rockford, Charlotte's next two games are against San Antonio, marking its first inter-divisional games since it last faced the Rampage on Nov. 2.

Against Rockford

The Checkers started their eight-game season series against the IceHogs with a head-to-head record of 3-1-1, improving them to 10-5-2 in the three seasons since Charlotte joined the Western Conference. Three of the Checkers' four wins since Oct. 31 and both of their overtime games this season have come against Rockford.

Tonight's meeting will be the sixth of the season between Charlotte and Rockford, trying Providence/Manchester as the most common match-up in the AHL to this point. The teams will play each other once more this month in Rockford on Dec. 30 before waiting three and a half months to conclude their season series with their last game of the regular season on April 19.

Mark Flood (3g, 3a) and Zach Boychuk (3g, 2a) lead the Checkers' scoring in five games against the IceHogs this season. Charlotte is 36 percent (9-for-25) on the power play and 81.8 percent (18-for-22) on the penalty kill over the course of the head-to-head meetings.

Quick Hits

• Heading into Thursday's game, the Checkers had been to overtime a league-low one time. They are now tied with Iowa for the fewest overtime games in the AHL with two.
• Charlotte's two shots in Thursday's second period were a season-low and one away from tying the franchise record
• The Checkers have scored three or more goals in all eight of their victories this season
• Matt Corrente ranks fourth among all AHL defensemen with five major penalties
• Charlotte has both scored (22) and allowed (28) more goals in the third period than in any other period
• Charlotte is one of three teams that have yet to score a shorthanded goal

Player Streaks

• Chris Terry has points in each of his last four games (Nov. 27-Dec. 5: 2g, 4a) and assists in each of his last three (Nov. 30-Dec. 5: 1g, 4a)
• Zach Boychuk has goals and points in each of his last three games (Nov. 20-Dec. 5: 4g, 1a)

Milestones

• Chris Terry is one point away from 200 with the Checkers
• Philippe Cornet is two points away from 100 AHL points
• Nicolas Blanchard is 2 goals away from 25 Checkers goals

Transactions

Incoming

• Dec. 5 - (LW) A.J. Jenks signed to a professional tryout contract

Outgoing

• Dec. 6 - (LW) Zach Boychuk reassigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)
• Dec. 4 - (G) Rob Madore released from professional tryout contract