Game Preview: Checkers vs. Texas (Jan. 17, 2014)

The Checkers begin a three-in-three set when they host the first of two games against the Texas Stars tonight.

The match-ups continue a stretch in which Charlotte plays four consecutive home games against the Stars, with the teams splitting games at Time Warner Cable Arena on Jan. 2 and Jan. 3. Both teams have won all of their games since then, making this a meeting between two clubs on three-game winning streaks.

Tonight’s game and tomorrow’s noon rematch mark a quick turnaround for the Checkers, who then welcome the Norfolk Admirals on Sunday. Their five-game home stand continues against the Oklahoma City Barons later in the week.

Charlotte

Players returning from Carolina and players returning from injury will give the Checkers the deepest roster they’ve had in quite some time as they attempt to extend their winning streak to four games, which would match their best of the season.

Zach Boychuk and Brett Sutter are both expected to play for the first time since returning from Carolina on Saturday, reuniting a top line with Chris Terry that Boychuk's recall broke up just after Christmas. That reunion seemed to be jeopardy earlier this week when Terry went down with what looked like a potentially serious injury at Tuesday’s practice, but his return on Thursday suggested that he’ll be good to go.

“It was initially thought to be a lot worse than it was,” said Terry. “I ended up just needing a day’s rest. Once I got a chance to get my skates off and walk around, I could tell it wasn’t going to be that bad. It was scary at the time.”

The Checkers are 0-6-0 this season without Terry, who missed most of the team’s franchise-record, seven-game losing streak while in Carolina. His expected return on Friday would also keep his record of not having missed a game due to injury in five professional seasons intact.

“He’s durable and he looks after himself,” said coach Jeff Daniels. “He’s had injuries, he just battles through them and plays through. It’s a credit to him.”

Even with Nicolas Blanchard expected to miss around two weeks with an injury suffered in the team’s last game, the returns of Boychuk, Sutter and Greg Nemisz, who missed the last two games due to an infection, mean that the Checkers will make a healthy scratch at forward for the first time since Nov. 30. On defense, Austin Levi’s reassignment to ECHL Florida still leaves the team with an extra defenseman, as Danny Biega is set to play for the first time since Dec. 12.

“Competition is good within that lineup, and you see guys out there pushing each other now because they want to get in,” said Daniels of the week’s practices, which conclude a stretch in which the team played just two games in a 13-day period. “If guys sit out (Friday), I’ll try not to make it too long in between because no one really deserves to be out right now – they’ve played really well. We’ll have tough decisions and do what’s best to help us win.”

Texas

Last season’s South champions have picked up where they left off in the new West, with six wins in their last seven games allowing them to overtake Abbotsford for the top spot in the division. A trio of home victories over Abbotsford, Utica and Rochester in which they outscored the opposition by a 14-4 margin since they were last in Charlotte has them trailing Grand Rapids by just two points for the conference lead.

The Checkers, who handed the Stars their lone defeat since Dec. 28, know from past experience that they’ll have their hands full.

“Without a doubt they’re - if not the top team - one of the top two teams we’ve seen all year,” said Daniels. “They’ve very explosive, they can score goals, they’re deep. They have everything. It’s going to be another good test for this weekend, we’ve got to be on top of our game, have good habits and no shortcuts.”

After allowing the AHL’s best power play (currently 29.3 percent) to score on its first four chances in the first two meetings, a key adjustment on the penalty kill allowed the Checkers to hold a lead in game two. A seemingly more aggressive Charlotte squad nullified the Stars’ next five chances and even picked up its first and only shorthanded goal of the season via Blanchard.

If the Checkers are fortunate enough to build a two-goal lead for the third meeting in a row, they know that the Stars, who lead the league in goals per game, have four of the league’s top nine scorers and have netted at least four goals in each of their last three games, are capable of charging back at any time.

“The way they came back in the third period two weeks ago, there was no quit in their game,” said Daniels, whose team allowed three third-period goals to lose 5-3 on Jan. 2. “They didn’t change their game. They just kept playing, and I think we learned from that.”

Stars forward Travis Morin leads the league with 50 points in just 33 games, including 23 goals that tie him with teammate Colton Sceviour for the leaugue lead and 27 assists that have him just two off the top mark. Not surprisingly, both Morin and Sceviour are headed to this year’s All-Star Game. Chris Mueller, a former All-Star with Milwaukee, ranks sixth in league scoring, while Curtis McKenzie checks in at ninth and leads all rookies.

Cristopher Nilstorp has played in eight of the Stars’ last nine games, only sitting out the Stars’ loss in Charlotte, and has won each of his last five decisions. Backup Josh Robinson has filled in occasionally and could again see one of the upcoming games against the Checkers if 2010 first-round draft pick Jack Campbell remains out due to injury.

Checkers Notes

Winning Streak

The Checkers' current three-game win streak is their second-longest of the season, as the team previously won four in a row from Dec. 10-19 during a 10-game home stand. Since the beginning of the first streak, the Checkers have posted a record of 9-4-0 and currently sit seven points back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with five games in hand over eighth-placed Rockford.

Getting Even

Having improved their record to 17-18-1 by winning each of their last three games, the Checkers can get back to .500 for the first time since Nov. 7 by winning their next game against the Texas Stars on Jan. 17. The Checkers were 5-5-1 following that Nov. 7 loss to Chicago, the second in a franchise-record, seven-game losing streak that still marks the longest in the AHL this season. The team was at a record-low six games under .500 as recently as Dec. 7.

Prior to the current campaign, the latest in a season that the Checkers had been under .500 was Nov. 10, 2010.

Palushaj Picks up the Pace

Checkers forward Aaron Palushaj has 18 points (4g, 14a) in his last 13 AHL games. During that time period, he has at least one point in 11 of those games and has posted six multi-point outings, allowing him to overtake Zach Boychuk for the team's scoring lead with 32 points. He is now tied for 11th in the AHL in scoring.

Palushaj also leads the Checkers with 22 assists, which are tied for ninth in the AHL and are at least eight more than any other Charlotte skater, and ranks second on the team with 96 shots on goal. He has points in each of his last seven road games, tying the longest active streak in the league, while his seven-game road assist streak ties the longest posted in the league at any point this season.

Pistol Blazing

Forward Matthew Pistilli recorded back-to-back two-goal games on Friday, Jan. 3 and Friday, Jan. 10, marking the first time a Checkers player has accomplished that feat since Riley Nash did it on Feb. 16 and March 23 of last season, games that came on either side of a lengthy NHL recall. Prior to those two games, Pistilli had a pair of two-goal outings in his previous 171 AHL games with Albany and Charlotte.

Pistilli, the ECHL's leading scorer with 36 points (16g, 20a) in 28 games at the time of signing a professional tryout contract with Charlotte on Dec. 27, now has four points, all goals, in seven AHL games with Charlotte this season.

Murphy Gets in Groove

Checkers goalie Mike Murphy stopped 73 of 78 shots to win his last two starts, marking the first time he has won back-to-back decisions since Jan. 15-17, 2012. His 41 saves in a 5-2 win over Oklahoma City on Jan. 10 tied Anton Khudobin for the most made by a Checkers goalie this season.

Prior to his win over Texas on Jan. 3, Murphy had not won a game since the season's opening weekend, his first start of the season on Oct. 5. After a two-month period from Oct. 25-Dec. 30 in which John Muse was the only Checkers goalie to earn a win, three different goalies (Muse, Murphy and Khudobin) have shared the team's last four victories.

Power Players

The Checkers, who rank third in the AHL with a 23.3 percent success rate on the power play, have scored 38 percent of their goals on the man advantage (38 of 100), which is the highest percentage of any AHL team. However, that percentage has been dropping steadily of late, with 20 of the team's last 25 goals scored at even strength or shorthanded.

For the season, Charlotte's 62 even-strength goals are the third-fewest in the league.

Boychuk Power Up

Despite missing the Checkers' last seven games while on NHL recall, Zach Boychuk still leads the AHL with 10 power-play goals - one more than Texas' Colton Sceviour, his junior teammate with WHL Lethbridge. His 14 total goals are tied with Chris Terry for most on the team and tied for 13th in the AHL.

Boychuk returned to Charlotte on Jan. 11 with an active-five game point streak at the AHL level (5g, 1a from Dec. 12-21). He has four points (1g, 3a) in nine NHL games this season.

Close Calls

Eleven of the Checkers' last 16 games since Dec. 1 have been decided by one goal, with the team posting a 9-2-0 record in those games. Prior to Dec. 1, the team had played seven one goal games in their first 20, going 2-4-1 in those contests.

Of the Checkers' 10 victories since Dec. 1, all but one, a 5-2 win at Oklahoma City on Jan. 11, have come by a single goal.

Meet the Division

In 36 games, the Checkers have played against their own division, the West, just nine times, marking the fewest games that any AHL team has played within its own division. The West is the only division the Checkers have a winning record against at 7-2-0.

Four of the Checkers' next five games will be played against divisional opponents, beginning with a two-game set against Texas on Jan. 17 and 18 and continuing with two games against Oklahoma City on Jan. 23 and 24.

Three in Threes

The Checkers play their third three-in-three set of the season, the second played entirely at home, from Jan. 17-19. The team is 3-2-1 in games that are part of a three-in-three this season, including a 2-0-0 record in game one, an 0-1-1 record in game two and a 1-1-0 record in game three.

All-time, the Checkers are 15-7-3 in game one, 15-5-5 in game two and 12-12-1 in game three over the course of their four AHL seasons.

Quick Hits

• A 2-1 win at Oklahoma City on Jan. 11 improved the Checkers to 2-12-1 when scoring fewer than three goals
• Charlotte's three overtime games are the fewest in the league, as is its lone shootout appearance.
• Matt Corrente's plus-8 rating since Dec. 1 leads all Checkers skaters
• The Checkers are one of three AHL teams to have a losing record at home (8-12-0) and a winning record on the road (9-6-1)
• Despite not scoring a goal since Dec. 7 (13 games) Mark Flood is tied for third among AHL defensemen with eight goals and five power-play goals.
• Charlotte has both scored (35) and allowed (43) more goals in the third period than in any other period.
• The first period is the only period in which the Checkers have a positive goal differential (33 for, 30 against).

Player Streaks

• Zach Boychuk has points in each of his last five games (Dec. 12-21: 5g, 3a)
• Philippe Cornet has points in each of his last four games (Jan. 2-11: 2g, 3a)
• Justin Shugg has assists and points in each of his last four games (Jan. 2-11: 0g, 4a)
• Aaron Palushaj has assists and points in each of his last two games (Jan. 10-11: 1g, 3a)
• Victor Rask has points in each of his last two games (Jan. 10-11: 1g, 1a)

Milestones

• Rasmus Rissanen is one game shy of 150 AHL/Checkers games
• Matt Corrente is two games shy of 200 AHL games
• Philippe Cornet is three games shy of 200 AHL games
• Greg Nemisz is three assists shy of 50 AHL assists
• Zach Boychuk is five goals shy of 100 AHL goals

Injuries

• Sean Dolan - missed 16 games starting Dec. 1
• Jared Staal - missed three games starting Jan. 3
• Nicolas Blanchard - injured last game, will not play tonight

Transactions

Incoming

• Jan. 11 - (LW) Zach Boychuk reassigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)
• Jan. 11 - (C) Brett Sutter reassigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)

Outgoing

• Jan. 16 - (D) Austin Levi - reassigned to Florida (ECHL) from Charlotte
• Jan. 13 - (LW) Kyle Bonis - reassigned to Florida (ECHL) from Charlotte