Game Preview: Checkers vs Texas (January 15, 2022)

The Checkers are back on home ice for the first time in 2022 as they look to keep their momentum rolling against the Texas Stars on Charlotte Night.

QUICK HITS

LOCK DOWN

The Checkers have been putting the clamps on their opponents defensively as of late. They have surrendered two or fewer goals in five of their last seven contests, winning in each of those instances. A key part of that has been the play of Joey Daccord, who has started four straight games for the Checkers and is coming off his fourth outing holding the opponent to a single goal in his last six appearances.

KILLING IT

After another perfect performance in Hartford on Wednesday, the Checkers have now gone five straight games without surrendering a power-play goal – killing off 13 consecutive man advantages over that stretch. They'll face a Texas squad whose power play has been one of their biggest strengths, ranking them 15th in the league.

CARDIAC CHECKERS

Each of Charlotte’s last two contests have been decided beyond the 60 minutes of regulation. On Sunday the Checkers found themselves in a shootout for the first time this season and took down the Islanders in the eighth round, then on Wednesday they picked up their first overtime win in three tries as Grigori Denisenko netted the winner against the Wolf Pack.

STILL TIPPETT

Owen Tippett was assigned to the Checkers yesterday afternoon. His last AHL stint in 2019-20 saw him lead Springfield in scoring despite only playing 46 games, posting 40 points (19g, 21a) during his time there. The 10th overall pick in 2017, Tippett would be the sixth first-round pick to suit up for the Checkers this season (Grigori Denisenko, Riley Sheahan, Olli Juolevi, Devan Dubnyk and Spencer Knight).

FINISH STRONG

Wednesday was the third time this season that the Checkers entered a third period trailing and ended up winning the game. On the flip side, the Checkers are 9-0-2-0 this season when they have the lead after 40 minutes of play.

COMING IN HOT

After claiming victories in two of the three games on their most recent road trip, the Checkers head into the weekend with a 7-3-0-0 record over their last 10 games. Those 14 points make them the second-hottest team in the Eastern Conference over the last 10 games, trailing only Laval’s 15 points.

On the other side are the Stars, who are 1-5-2-0 over their last eight contests and have surrendered 37 total goals over that stretch.

QUOTES

Head Coach Geordie Kinnear on returning to action after an extended break
"I forget how many days we were off but it seemed like a long time since we missed those two games. So we’re just trying to get back to the basics a little bit. Get our habits back in order. That first game we were disorganized as a group, and that’s on me to them back organized. I thought it was much much better the next game and then we built off that."


Checkers defenseman Connor Carrick on returning to home ice
"It’s really nice. There’s always little pockets where the schedule is favorable and where it’s particularly demanding, that’s standard for every club. There’s ebbs and flows. As a pro it’s always your job to prepare the best you can, but it is nice to be home."

Kinnear on the team's strong defensive play
"We want to be great defenders as a team. To win in the end, you have to be a great defending team. But that doesn’t mean you’re just good in your defensive zone, you’ve got to be good in the offensive zone too. We’re still trying to get back to that. And our goaltending has been very good, Dacs has been very sharp."

Kinnear on Joey Daccord's recent strong play
"Credit to him, he stayed sharp. He has a lot of travel - he was home for Christmas, then he went to Seattle then he came back to us. You have to have elite focus and Dacs has elite focus every single day, not just in games. He’s at his best all the time, he’s coachable and trainable and a great person, so it’s fortunate that we have him."

Carrick on what the team can do to spark their offense
"Just getting on top of the goalie. I think we play with the puck a lot, we have a lot of really good rush chances. Goaltenders are good in pro hockey, all throughout - there’s only two spots per club. So if you can make their job difficult, oftentimes they’re the opposing teams best player. I think we’ll have the same quality of opportunities but they’ll end up being goals for instead of just opportunities for."

Carrick on the Checkers coming up big in clutch moments
"We’ve got some big-time players.We have a ‘play-to-win’ style, not a ‘play-to-tie’ or a ‘play-to-not-lose’ style, I’ve been a part of groups like that. Up and down our lineup we have a lot of puck talent, and we’re watching guys play all game long and make good plays - it’s encouraging and inspiring. You want to be the best player for your team and I think we have the inner push that way."

Carrick on the Stars' style of play
"I might be a little familiar just from being in Dallas prior. If I remember orginazationally they’re very similar to us, try to be a stingy team with a lot of rush opportunities. So we’ll see, I’m curious to see if that holds true."

COMING IN

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

TEX: 1-4-0-0 in last five games this season

WHO TO WATCH

CLT

Logan Hutsko - 9 points in last 9 games

Grigori Denisenko - 9 points in last 10 games

Chase Priskie – 7 points in last 6 games

TEX

Ben Gleason – 5 points in last 5 games

Thomas Harley – 5 points in last 5 games

Anthony Louis – 13 points in last 9 games

PROMOS

TUNE IN

Tonight's game starts at 6 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.