Game Preview: Checkers vs Utica (March 5, 2020)

The Checkers are back home to kick off a critical stretch of games with a matchup against Utica.

THREE STORYLINES

GEEKIE AND BEAN LEAD THE WAY

With a lot of offensive pieces leaving at the NHL trade deadline, Morgan Geekie has stepped up to keep Charlotte’s attack afloat. Geekie racked up seven points over the four games this week – the most by any player in the AHL over that stretch – and recorded his first career hat trick in Sunday’s win over Hershey. He is the second Checker this season to net a hat trick and the 13th in franchise history.

Jake Bean picked up a trio of helpers in Sunday’s win over the Bears, marking the third time he’s hit that mark in a single game this season. The blueliner has eight points in his last five games to claim the team scoring lead and has positioned himself as the AHL’s highest-scoring defensemen, leading the second-ranked Brennan Menell by two points.

NEW FACES

After the slew of moves around the trade deadline, the are currently seven players on the Charlotte roster who would be set their home debut for the Checkers this weekend. In fact, eight players who were in the lineup for the Checkers’ last home game on Feb. 16 are no longer on the roster.

One of several new additions to the forward group, Mark Cooper, has been a positive influence on the scoresheet since joining the Checkers. A standout for the South Carolina Stingrays who had 37 AHL games to his name at the time of his signing, Cooper has posted three points (1g, 2a) in four games wearing a Charlotte sweater.

KILLING IT

Charlotte has been lights out on the PK as of late, going four straight games without surrendering a power-play goal and killing off each of their last 20 times shorthanded. They’ll look to keep that hot streak rolling against a Utica squad that ranks fourth in the AHL in terms of power-play percentage.

Both sides will have to watch for pucks going the other way as well, as Charlotte (15) and Utica (14) have given up the most shorthanded goals in the AHL this season.

COACH'S QUOTES

Head coach Ryan Warsofsky on what to expect from Utica
"This is a good team coming into our building so we need to make sure that we’re prepared to start on time. They have a really good goaltender in DiPietro, their forwards are super skilled and there’s numerous guys who can score goals. The D are good, Rafferty is one of the best young defensemen in the league."

On slowing down Utica's high-powered offense
"The key is making sure that when we have a chance to get it out of our end, we do that. That’s something we did well against Hershey, we were quick to get out of our own end. When there was a breakdown, we knew what our job was and we weren’t letting those second and third chances in our own end come. That is important against this strong of a team."

On continuing the strong offensive performance from the win over Hershey
"Everyone being on the same page is huge. It starts with us breaking out pucks. If we’re on the same page as a unit with all six guys on the ice, we can transition to play offense and wear teams down. I think that’s what we did in the first and second period of that Hershey game."

On Charlotte's goaltending situation
"We’ll see how it plays out here and we’ll talk to Paul our goaltending coach to see how we want to plan it out. Callum was really good against Lehigh Valley, I thought he made some great saves early to settle into the game. We’re working with him on staying tight and not flopping around so much. He’s a coachable kid, he’s a pro and that’s impressive. He’s got a good opportunity here. And then Kinkaid, he’s trying to get his name back out there. He was really good for us against Hershey and he’ll be a guy we lean on just because of the experience. But we’ll see how it plays out."

On carrying momentum into this home stand
"We’re back home after a long road trip so it’s important that we start on time. That’s going to be a big key for us, we can’t wait for the second period to wake up. We’ve got some good momentum with back-to-back wins when our backs were against the wall. You could see this team coming together in the locker room after that win. The morale and the emotion, guys were proud of each other and they should be. You could see the chemistry really gelling in that game."

PREVIOUS MATCHUPS

Oct. 6 – Charlotte 2 at Utica 8

CHA Standouts: Hunter Shinkaruk (1 goal), Eetu Luostarinen (1 goal)

UTI Standouts: Justin Bailey (2 goals), Nikolay Goldobin (3 assists), Zack MacEwen (3 assists)

COMING IN

CHA: 2-game winning streak, 5-4-1 in last 10

UTI: 1-game winning streak, 6-3-1 in last 10

WHO TO WATCH

CHA

Mark Cooper - 3 points in last 4 games

Steven Lorentz - 14 points in last 12 games

Cavan Fitzgerald – 4 points in last 2 games

UTI

Carter Camper – 11 points in last 11 games

Reid Boucher – 13 points in last 9 games

Justin Bailey – 23 points in last 15 games

PROMOS

TUNE IN

Tonight's game starts at 7 p.m. 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, or this link, so tune in and tweet Jason Shaya to let him know you’re listening!