Game Preview: Checkers vs. San Antonio (Dec. 10, 2013)

The Checkers continue their home stand with another two-game set, this time against the division rival San Antonio Rampage.

Charlotte is off to a 2-2-0 start to its franchise-record-tying, 10-game run at Time Warner Cable Arena, having split previous series with Milwaukee and Rockford. In each of those sets, the Checkers won the first game but fell in the second, continuing their search for their first consecutive victories since the season's opening weekend.

Tonight's game is the second of eight meetings between the Checkers and Rampage this season, with the Rampage erasing three separate one-goal deficits to win 5-3 in San Antonio on Nov. 2 – the first blip in Charlotte's franchise-record, seven-game losing streak. That was one of a league-low three divisional games the Checkers have played this season.

Charlotte

Though their fortunes have improved from that long losing streak, the Checkers have struggled to put together the kind of run that can cancel out the hard times and kick start a climb up the standings. After beating Rockford 3-2 in overtime on Thursday, Sunday’s 5-3 defeat continued a trend of alternating wins and losses over their last five.

“It’s very frustrating,” said coach Jeff Daniels, whose team enters tonight’s game eight points out of a playoff spot. “It’s easy to get back in the race if we get a couple going together because I don’t think the pack is that far ahead of us, but winning one and losing one is not going to be enough.”

As they attempt to correct that with six home games between tonight and Dec. 21, they’ll have to play at least some of them without veteran defenseman Rasmus Rissanen, who suffered an injury during a fight with Rockford’s Mark McNeill on Saturday. The third-year blueliner could not have returned to that game anyway after picking up a game misconduct for participating in a secondary altercation, but went on to miss Monday’s practice. Beau Schmitz is expected to enter the lineup in his stead.

“He’s been around the last couple of years, knows the way we want to play and understands it,” said Daniels, who only recently welcomed Michal Jordan back into the lineup after the All-Star defenseman missed six games due to injury, of Rissanen. “For me he was taking a big step this year. He’s always been a hard guy to play against, but now he’s trying to show a little more patience with the puck.”

Daniels will continue to rely on a top line of Chris Terry, Brett Sutter and Zach Boychuk, the team’s three most experienced scorers, on Tuesday, but the rest of the groupings will look different. A complete break up of what he viewed to be an ineffective second line of Philippe Cornet, acquired from San Antonio just three weeks ago, Victor Rask and Aaron Palushaj sent a trickle effect through the rest of the offense.

As a result, rookie Brendan Woods, who has chipped in three goals from the fourth line this season, will make his first foray into a top-six role alongside Rask and Justin Shugg. Woods scored on a fine individual effort on Saturday, setting off the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss promotion.

“We’re just looking to add some speed on those lines so that they can get in on the forecheck and create some turnovers, and that’s one of his assets,” said Daniels of Woods. “He doesn’t need to change his game. We just had a long talk about playing the same way, and hopefully he can create some speed for Rask and Shugg.”

“It’s a good feeling to have because you must have been doing something right to get moved up,” said Woods. “I’m going to keep it simple with hard work to get pucks to (Rask and Shugg), put my body in front of the net and shoot the puck every chance I get.”

Joining Rissanen on the sidelines will be forwards Sean Dolan and Jared Staal, who have missed the last three and two games, respectively. Neither player practiced on Monday. After sitting out the last game in favor of Mike Murphy, John Muse is the odds-on favorite to get the start in goal.

San Antonio

The Checkers welcome a few familiar faces this week, with forward Jon Matsumoto and coach Tom Rowe making their first visits to Charlotte as members of an opposing team.

Since the Carolina Hurricanes traded him to the Florida Panthers midway through the 2011-12 season, Matsumoto played for Worcester and Chicago before rejoining the Rampage this season. The 27-year-old center who posted 82 points (33g, 49a) in 96 total games for Charlotte has just nine points in 22 games this year. However, since sitting out two games as a healthy extra, he has four points in his last five games, including a goal and an assist on Saturday.

Though he never actually coached the Checkers, Rowe preceded Daniels as the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate up until the two switched jobs prior to the 2008-09 season, with Rowe taking over as an NHL assistant and Daniels moving to the Albany River Rats. As such, Rowe has previous relationships with not only Daniels but many of the Checkers’ veteran players that he either coached as young players in Albany or during their stints with the Hurricanes.

“He’s obviously a guy I know well and have a lot of respect for,” said Daniels.

“I was still a young guy and had some bad habits, and he taught me how to be a pro and how to be a man,” said defenseman Mark Flood of his time playing for Rowe in Albany from 2006-09. “He was a big influence on my career.”

After winning six of their first nine games under Rowe, including three by way of shootout, the Rampage are winless in their last four (0-3-1) coming in to this weekend. They have one of the league’s top rookies in Vincent Trochek, who has followed a 109-point junior season with 21 in his first 24 pro games, and goalie Jacob Markstrom, who began the season in a competition for the Panthers’ staring job.

Other Rampage players who started in the NHL include defensemen Ryan Whitney and Matt Gilroy, the latter of whom will be making his Rampage debut tonight. Together, those players have a combined 705 games of NHL experience, with Whitney racking up seven points in eight AHL games this season - his most in the league since the 2005-06 campaign.

“They’re very deep and have four lines that can play and score,” said Daniels. “They’ve got a good mobile back end with Gilroy down and Whitney – guys who have played up top in offensive roles – and Markstrom in the net, so they’ve got a bit of everything.”

Forward Adam Brace, who the Checkers traded to San Antonio in exchange for Cornet, has been with the Rampage’s ECHL affiliate in Cincinatti ever since.

Checkers Notes

Boychuk Powers Up

After starting the season with two goals in his first 13 games, forward Zach Boychuk now has seven in his last 10 to give him sole possession of the team lead. Seven of Boychuk's nine goals have come on the power play, tying him with Rochester's Luke Adam for most in the AHL. He is the Checkers' all-time leader with 35 power-play goals, at least nine more than any other player.

Winning with Muse

John Muse has been in goal for each of the Checkers' last six wins dating back to Oct. 25. The last time a Checkers goalie other than Muse won a game was on Oct. 5, when Mike Murphy took home the victory in the team's second game of the season. Muse is 6-6-0 this season, while the other six goalies the team has used - Murphy, Justin Peters, Jesse Deckert, Allen York, Rick DiPietro and Rob Madore - are a combined 2-8-1.

Since rejoining the Checkers on a professional tryout contract on Oct. 23, Muse ranks tied for 16th in the AHL with a 2.37 goals-against average, tied for 15th with a .919 save percentage and is part of a six-way tie for the league lead with two shutouts. His shutouts came as part of a team-record, 154-minute shutout streak over the course of his first three starts.

Floodgates Open

Mark Flood's eight goals are tied for second on the team and are the second-most among all AHL defensemen, while his five power-play goals are tied for first among league blueliners.

In just 23 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.

Good Things Come in Threes

Five different Checkers have scored goals in three consecutive games this season: Mark Flood, Chris Terry, Aaron Palushaj, Victor Rask and, most recently, Zach Boychuk, who did so from Nov. 30 to Dec. 5. No Checkers player has scored goals in more than three consecutive games since Drayson Bowman set a franchise record with goals in eight consecutive games from Oct. 19-Nov. 4 of last season.

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.

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 six in their own building.

Divided Division

In 23 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. Charlotte's next two games are against San Antonio, marking its first inter-divisional games since it last faced the Rampage on Nov. 2. The West Division is the only division that the Checkers have a winning record against.

Quick Hits

• Charlotte has scored at least one power-play goal in each of its last four games (5-for-15, 33.3 percent)
• The Checkers' five shorthanded goals allowed are tied for the fourth-most in the AHL
• The Checkers have scored three or more goals in all eight of their victories this season
• Matt Corrente ranks tied for fourth among all AHL defensemen with five major penalties
• Charlotte has both scored (23) and allowed (29) 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

• none

Milestones

• Chris Terry is one point away from 200 Checkers points
• Chris Terry is four points away from 250 AHL points
• Philippe Cornet is one point away from 100 AHL points
• Nicolas Blanchard is 2 goals away from 25 Checkers goals

Transactions

Incoming

• Dec. 7 - (LW) Zach Boychuk reassigned from Carolina (NHL) to Charlotte
• Dec. 5 - (LW) A.J. Jenks signed to a professional tryout contract

Outgoing

• Dec. 6 - (LW) Zach Boychuk reassigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)